Phantom of the Opera, the YuGiOh! Version
by YamiShiningFriendship
Summary: a modern day version of the phantom of the opera, where the Yugioh characters are descendants of the original people. Mostly takes place in first person P.O.V. RyouOC YamiOC
1. Introduction

YSF: What happens when you listen to the phantom of the opera soundtrack while doing something that has to do with Yugioh? This AU fic. Basically, I'm trying this out. I'm not sure if this is good, but you have to work with me. I'm kinda stressed from finals.

Yami: and that's bad.

YSF: Yep! Yami, will you do the disclaimer for me?

Yami: sigh YSF doesn't own Yugioh or the phantom of the opera. All she owns is the 120 Yugioh pics that are on her wall mumbles and 57 are of me

YSF: ; I'm obsessed, so what?

Summary- a modern day version of the phantom of the opera, where the Yugioh characters are descendants of the original people. Mostly takes place in first person P.O.V. Bakura/OC Yami/OC

My name is Bakura. I'm 17 years old.

That's it. No last name… at least, not that I remember. Why don't I have a last name? Well, do you know the legend of the phantom of the opera, who fell in love with a girl who he tutored in singing, but then she broke his heart? Well, it's not a legend. The "phantom" is my great-great-grandfather, or if I got it wrong, my grandfather's grandfather.

Apparently, my…ancestor found someone else, had my great-grandfather, who was normal looking. Then he had my grandfather, who was like the original phantom (deformed face). He found someone who had my father, normal, who had me who has half of a normal face, half of a scrunched up-twisted-gruesome face of which I prefer to cover with a mask. On a side note, I think I look rather handsome with my mask covering the gruesome half of my face. I chose not to be scorned by the outside world, but to live in my ancestor's dwelling (I have the same love for music as he did), far below the old theater, that's still in use where I can listen to music to my heart's desire. (The owners are used to me appearing in the auditorium sometimes)

Of course I'm not alone. I have a brother two years younger than me named Ryou. We look sort of alike if you overlook the fact that he's normal and I'm not. We have the same hair, and same eye color, except that his eyes are wider and more innocent than mine are.

Ryou also lives in the highest level of the basement right under the stage, but of course comes to visit me daily. He's the only one who isn't afraid of me, and knows where all of my booby traps that I have placed to keep people away are. Anywise, I've rambled on for far too long about my past and background even though it would do you well to remember it all for this is my story and how it came to be very similar to that of my great-great-grandfather's.

YSF: short, yes, but I had to start it off. Please tell me what you think, so I can continue it. I won't do this story, unless I have 2 or more people wanting me to continue. So please review and tell me what you think.


	2. I Win Again

'Blah' thoughts

Ryou's P.O.V.

I was woken up from my deep and peaceful sleep by some dreadful noise above me. 'If whatever that is, is this noisy, I feel sorry for Bakura. He has to hear it even louder from the way sound travels down here.

Going up to the ground level, I went into the auditorium to see a really ugly lady singing horribly. Me, being the polite person that I am, go to the owner who was sitting there and ask him what the racket is all about. Before I continue, let me explain something. The owner knows both me and Bakura, except he's scared to death of Bakura, and almost adores me. Gee, I wonder why.

"I'm sorry Ryou. I forgot that you are right under the stage, or else I would have held auditions somewhere else," apologized the owner (A/N: This is getting tiring typing "the owner". I'm just going to make the owner Seto Kaiba, k?)

"That's all right, Seto, I know you didn't mean to forget. I'll just visit Bakura for a while," I said watching Seto pale when I said my brother's name. Smiling, I just walk away into the front hall. Stopping in front of a statue of an Egyptian man, I looked around quickly. Seeing that the coast was clear, I pulled the snake on the headdress down, and watched as a hidden door opened up before me.

Entering the passage, I wound my way down to a spot where I knew there were two trip wires that set off a chain reaction when hit. Fortunately, I can jump them both. Backing up enough, I ran towards the first wire. Jumping before I hit it, I sailed over the two wires and landed quite gracefully, only to be swept upside down to hang in the air by a foot. Trying to get free, I suddenly heard a laughter that was harsh yet gentle at the same time.

"Let me down Bakura," I said calmly, "I don't find your snare trap funny."

Bakura chuckled as he cut the rope, causing me to fall onto my head.

"I know where you land after jumping my wires, so I set a trap just for you," laughed Bakura, his eyes sparkling with mirth.

Bakura's POV

I love it when I outsmart my younger brother. It's the only way I can get even with him for not having to be cursed with a face that not even a mother can love.

"By the way," I started as I helped Ryou up, "What the hell is that horrible racket?"

Now it was Ryou's turn to laugh. "Seto's having auditions for a new singer. Personally, none are good," said Ryou as we began to walk.

"So that's what it is. I thought Seto had cracked and brought in livestock," I said as we reached the underground river that led to my home.

Ryou paused and listened. Then he started laughing. "You're right. The echoes make it sound that way," he said. We kept walking in silence till we reached my home. Flopping down, on a couch when we entered, a thought crossed my head.

"Were there even any that showed the slightest potential?" I asked. Sighing when Ryou shook his head, I stood up.

"Where are you going?" asked Ryou.

Smirking, I looked over my shoulder at Ryou. "If I have to suffer listening to them," I said, my grin growing bigger, "They have to be able to not be afraid of the feared 'Phantom' paying visits."

Normal POV

Seto sighed in boredom and annoyance. The auditions weren't going well at all. Seto was just about to call it a day and send them all on their way, when an evil cackle echoed from somewhere in the auditorium. Everyone jumped, and at once Seto glanced up at box 5. He swore he saw a shadow deep within the box and figured that it was Bakura's way of saying hello.

Bakura let loose another evil laugh and watched the auditioners scatter like chickens. Oh how he loved doing that. Once the last auditioner left the auditorium, Bakura heard Seto say, "That's not funny Bakura, I need new singers."

"Well, if you didn't audition horrible singers, I wouldn't do that," sneered Bakura coming out of the shadows and looking down at Seto's furious face.

"I don't have time for this," muttered Seto leaving angrily because Bakura outsmarted him again.

Bakura watched him go with an amused grin. "Remember, Kaiba," called Bakura, "The score is now 150 to zero in my favor!"

"Aggh!"

YSF: giggle poor Seto. I'm sorry that these chapters are so short. I'm trying my best, but I don't remember the story that well. I promise that it'll be longer next chapter.


	3. Enter the Girls

I don't own Yugioh. Never have, never will. I own Maria, Schala owns Mau, Valon, and herself.

Maria's POV

I sighed as the taxi finally pulled up to the theater house. 'The ride was too long for my liking,' I thought as I paid the driver and started up the steps. My face lit up as I saw my best friend, Mau, waiting for me like she promised. Going up the steps, I dropped my bag and gave Mau a hug.

"Mau, it's so good to finally see a familiar face after a somewhat long travel," I said, "How are you?"

Mau smiled. "I'm doing quite well," she replied.

"Do you know if auditions are still going on?" I asked, curious about the reason I had come here.

"How would I know? I've been out here all morning. No one has come out yet, so I'm guessing that they are still going on. Come on, It looks like it's going to rain. Let's go in," said Mau going to the doors.

Smiling at the fact that Mau hasn't changed a bit since I last saw her, I picked up my bag and followed her into the theater. When we got into the foyer (the carpeted part that leads into the auditorium), we noticed that everyone was standing around looking scared.

"I wonder why everyone looks so panicked?" asked Mau looking around as we stopped in the center of the foyer.

Looking around also, I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe we can ask someone," I said, "Isn't that the owner?"

Mau followed my gaze. "I think so," she replied.

"He looks rich enough to be," I said thoughtfully.

Mau rolled her eyes. "Am I the only one who pays attention?" she asked. Seeing me nod, she sighed. "Yes that's him. His name's Seto Kaiba."

"Can I help it if you hang around here often?" I asked.

Mau didn't reply. Going up to Seto, she asked him, "Excuse me Mr. Kaiba, are the auditions still being held?"

Seto shook his head. "I'm continuing them later. The Phantom spooked all of the auditioners so much, that they refuse to sing right now," he said.

"So that's why," said Mau as I joined the conversation.

I just raised an eyebrow. "A phantom? Come on, there's no such thing," I said with a look of disbelief.

Mau just blushed. She's very superstitious, and probably feels uncomfortable when I voice my disagreement. That's probably why she changed the topic. "When will the auditions start up again?" she asked, her cheeks still a bit pink.

Seto glanced at his watch. "Let's see. Since its eleven now, how about I restart them at one in the first practice room down the hall. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a headache, and wish to take some aspirin," said Seto bowing curtly.

"Before you go, do you mind if we look around for a while?" asked Mau.

Seto looked over his shoulder at the girls. "I don't care," he said walking off, "but don't go lower than the first basement level."

Mau looked at me as Seto walked away. "You should relax, you're the one auditioning, not me," said Mau.

"I still don't see why you refuse to audition," I said sitting on my bag, "you have a beautiful voice, Mau."

Mau turned an interesting shade of red and sat next to me. "You know I can't read music that well...and it would take forever to learn all of the songs by ear," she protested. As an afterthought, Mau added, "Besides, your voice is far better then mine."

I had to roll my eyes at that. "You know," I said, "if you trained yourself, maybe you'd be just as good as me, if not better."

Mau smiled, still blushing a bit. "I doubt that," she muttered.

Resting my hand on her shoulder, I smiled. "I don't doubt it, You're just being modest," I teased.

Mau sighed. "You're more cut out for this than me," she said with another sigh, "Haven't we gone over this before?"

"And you know I'm too stubborn for my own good," I replied, "Besides, I think you would still be excellent, but if you refuse, you can always try out to be a dancer. That comes naturally for you, I can't dance for two beans glued together."

That got a laugh out of Mau. "All right, I may try out for that, but we still have two hours to kill. How about we explore some? We could look at the dressing rooms and costume rooms…" started Mau.

"…And maybe try some of the costumes on," I finished with a grin. Pulling her up and grabbing my bag, we set off. In the front hall, we spotted an odd looking Egyptian statue.

Looking at it curiously, Mau asked with a giggle, "Maria, does that stand out, or what?"

Stopping in front of it, I had to laugh. "It does look odd being here all alone… want to see if there's a hidden switch that leads to a hidden door or something?" I asked getting another of my hair-brained schemes.

"Why not? It may even be made out of real gold," said Mau walking to the statue.

"Why? So you can make it into jewelry or something?" I teased as I pulled on an arm, "That's definitely not a switch."

Mau, ignoring my first comment, pulled the other arm. "That's not it," she laughed as she tugged on it, "Hmm, I wonder if it'll be anything protruding."

"Let's see, the whole statue is dusty, except where we were pulling on the arms and the snake on the headdress, so methinks we have to pull that," I said looking the statue over.

Mau reached up and pulled on the snake, which shifted down and came back up. "Nothing's happening," said Mau with a shrug. I was about to reply, when a very quiet grinding sound caught my attention.

"Mau, look!" I exclaimed as a portion of the wall slid open to reveal a passageway.

Mau looked over and her eyes widened. "Oh my gosh!" she said, "I didn't think that there was an actual door."

"I want to go see where it leads," I said walking forwards. As I headed towards the opening, I looked back at Mau who hadn't moved. "Coming?" I asked.

"I don't know… I have a bad feeling about this," Mau said hesitantly.

"Well, come if you want, I'm going regardless," I said heading into the darkness of the passage, knowing Mau would follow. Sure enough, a few seconds later I heard Mau's quick footsteps and her saying, "Maria, wait up! I'm coming too!"

Looking around the dark passage, Mau gulped. "I'm coming, as long as we don't go too far.

I sighed. "Oh come on, what could possibly happen? Let's just not go down any stairs, since we're most likely on the first basement level. I bet there's tons of cool things down here," I said.

Mau still looked a bit reluctant. Looking around, I spotted a flashlight. "Hey Mau, if it makes you feel better, we'll use this," I said as I held up the flashlight.

"I guess that's fine," said Mau taking a more confident step forward.

Meanwhile, Ryou had returned from visiting Bakura and heard the girls' voices. Curiosity getting the better of him, he went to investigate.

Swinging the flashlight around while walking, I saw something interesting and stopped.

"What is it?" asked Mau.

Grinning, I pointed. "Look," I said, "costumes! Let's try some on."

Mau giggled. "I wonder why those were put here," she said with a confused look spreading over her face, "I thought they stored unneeded stuff in the attic."

I laughed. "Old time opera houses didn't have attics, just multi level basements to store props and such easier... lets try some on," I said going to the costumes.

Mau walked over and started searching through them. "I hope there's one that is short enough to fit me," she said.

Digging through another rack, I spotted one that may be small enough. "Here," I said handing it to her. Smiling, Mau put it on over her clothes.

"It's perfect! How do I look?" she asked.

I had to laugh. "You look like a princess who ran away to have an adventure," I said still laughing.

Mau also laughed. Taking it off, she looked around. "Find anything yet?" she asked.

Digging around, I found a cat outfit and put it on. "Meow!" I said giggling, "I'm an Egyptian Mau!"

"That wasn't funny," said Mau smiling.

Suddenly, we both stopped laughing as we heard a quiet "hello" come from behind Mau. Spinning around, Mau looked into the shadows with frightened eyes. "W-who's there?" she asked.

"There's no need to be frightened, my name is Ryou. I live down here and I heard you, so I thought I'd say hello. I'm sorry I frightened you," said the person coming out of the shadows. The person was a boy about our age with long, snowy-white hair and warm, chocolate brown eyes.

Mau blushed sheepishly. "Oh," she said.

"Hello then," I said as I suddenly felt stupid and took off the costume.

"I hope...we're not bothering you...since you live here and all..." said Mau quietly.

Ryou smiled warmly. "It's no bother," he said, "It's nice to have company other than my brother sometimes."

Mau relaxed and smiled a little. "Oh...your brother? I can't help asking this and I do hope you forgive me, but do you see a lot of the phantom?" she asked.

"The phantom?" asked Ryou, "I see him every so often, why what did he do this time?"

"Umm…" said Mau trailing off and looking to me for help.

"This supposed phantom scared away all of the people auditioning I think… We just got here as they were running out the auditorium door," I said. As I finished saying that, I could have sworn that Ryou muttered "typical."

"Well...I'm not afraid of a phantom...at least, I fear them less then humans," said Mau fidgeting a little.

"He's done this before, only when he's bored or annoyed at the singers," explained Ryou.

"I see...I'm afraid Maria doesn't think that there are phantoms," said Mau looking at Ryou, "...Oh! I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Mau and my friend is Maria. She's the one that came to audition."

I grinned and curtsied a little. "I don't believe in a phantom now, but I definitely will change my mind if I see one," I said to Ryou and Mau laughing.

Once the laughter stopped, Ryou said, "Would you like me to show you around the basements?"

I looked at Mau. "Didn't Seto tell us not to go lower?" I asked uncertainly.

Mau looked at me and nodded. "Erm...the manager had told us to not go beyond the first basement level so..." she said looking at Ryou.

Ryou just laughed. "Don't worry, it's just so you don't get lost. I bet Seto didn't expect you to meet me," he said.

I took a bit to decide. "All right, I guess we can. What do you think Mau?" I said.

Mau looked uncomfortable. Finally she sighed and said, "If...it's only for a little while. We have to be back up at one though."

"Follow me then," said Ryou walking off into the shadows.

Yay! I got enough to make a decent length chapter. Many thanks to Schala for Rping this with me.


	4. meeting Bakura

This will be the last disclaimer. I don't own Yugioh or the phantom of the opera. All I own is Maria and this plot since it's not the same as the original. One of my best friends, Schala, owns Mau and Valon.

Normal P.O.V.

Mau looked uncomfortable. Finally she sighed and said, "If...it's only for a little while. We have to be back up at one though."

"Follow me then," said Ryou walking off into the shadows. Mau started to follow, hesitated, but kept walking.

Maria noticed the hesitation and caught up to Mau. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Mau looked down at the floor. "I...guess it's just because we're going against the manager's advice... You know how I typically...try not to disobey people," she murmured. Maria remembered that when they were little, Mau's father had been awfully strict. The group continued in silence as Ryou showed them around the first two levels.

Coming to the two trip wires, Ryou stopped and looked at the girls. "Girls, this area is really, really weak. Can you jump it?" said Ryou starting to smile, "Trust me, I fell through once."

Maria laughed and looked at the footprints in the dust to gauge the distance. "I can jump it," she said after a minute of calculation.

"I'm not sure," said Mau trailing off.

"I can carry you across if you like," offered Ryou gently.

Mau blushed a little. "Umm...that's...not really necessary," said Mau quietly.

Ryou just nodded in consent and taking a few running steps cleared the area perfectly. Mau went next, and barely cleared the trip wires, much to Ryou's relief. Finally Maria jumped, but leaped a little early, and almost hit the second wire, if it weren't for Ryou reaching out and pulling her to him. "Shall we continue?" asked Ryou once the three of them had caught their breath.

"Please, let's," said Mau.

After a while of touring, Ryou came to a door that looked like it hadn't been opened in a long while. "Would you two like to try on some more costumes?" he asked.

Mau looked at Maria and simply shrugged. "It's your choice," she said already knowing the answer.

Maria grinned. Mau knew her way too well. "Let's. There's probably some very old costumes down here, so that'll be cool to check out," she replied.

Ryou threw himself against the door and forced it open. "Here you two go," Ryou said rubbing his shoulder a bit.

Mau smiled and went into the room and started looking at the costumes. "So Ryou, where's your brother?" she asked.

"Oh, he's around. He lives on one of the lowest levels."

"I'm sure you guys get to hear a lot of good music down here," I said as I started pawing through the dresses.

"Yeah, but down farther, the echoes get sort of mixed up, so it gets confusing," laughed Ryou.

"That's interesting," said Mau pulling out a dress that was once again far too long. "I think I should just give up," she giggled.

"That, or we can find you a colonial hoop skirt. Then you can wear the long dresses," I laughed trying a dress on, "I wonder if Christine Daaé, my ancestor Ryou, wore any of these."

"Probably," said Mau wrinkling her nose at the thought of the hoop skirts, "I mean, this is the same theater after all."

Ryou listened to this exchange with amusement. "I take it you two are very good friends," he said leaning against the doorframe.

"Yeah, we've been best friends since we were little," said Maria.

Unbeknownst to them, Bakura had heard them, and was coming closer, listening to the conversation with interest. Reaching the door, he pulled Ryou out of the room as Mau stared at the wall lost in thought.

"Mau? Are you all right?" asked Maria.

"Hmm? It's nothing, I-I'm fine…really," said Mau snapping out of her trance.

"All right, I'm just a little worried about you when you space out," replied Maria going back to digging through the costumes. Doing so made her miss the small, grateful smile that Mau sent her way.

Ryou's P.O.V.

I gave a slight gasp as I was pulled from the room. Trying to slow my heartbeat, I gave Bakura a glare that could never match his, but was good enough for me. Bakura looked at me, grinned, and asked, "Who are they?"

"They, are two girls who are auditioning, I found them wandering around in the basement, so I gave them a tour," I said, still ticked at my brother. Just because he's older, doesn't mean that he has the right to scare me and prank me to his hearts content.

"Auditioners eh? Are they any good?" Bakura asked.

"No clue," I replied, "Want to meet them?"

"Sure," said Bakura adjusting his mask so that it was secure. Pulling him into the room, I saw Mau look up and give me a questioning look. Maria also looked curiously in my direction.

"Girls, I'd like you to meet my brother Bakura. Bakura, this is Mau, and this is Maria," I said pointing to Maria and Mau as I said their names.

Bakura, scared of being ridiculed because of his mask, just muttered a quick "hello."

"Hi!" said Maria, "you look a lot like Ryou."

Mau nodded to Maria's comment. "You can tell that you two are brothers," she said with a smile.

Bakura visibly relaxed. Usually if no one says anything about his mask in their first sentence, they are okay people. "Can you tell which is older?" asked Bakura.

Maria and Mau looked us over. "Bakura, you're older. You're taller," said Mau.

"Correct," laughed Bakura giving me a playful little shove.

"But only by two years!" I protested.

Normal P.O.V.

"What time is it?" asked Mau suddenly.

Maria looked at her watch. "We have an hour still," Maria replied calmly.

Mau relaxed and blushed. "Okay. How long have you two been living down here?" she asked.

Bakura fidgeted a little. "I've lived down here my entire life, and Ryou came to live with me five years ago," he said.

Mau smiled in response. "I'm sure it would be better to live here then at my home," she said a little sadly.

Bakura picked up on the sad note immediately. "What do you mean?" he asked softly.

Mau realized her mistake. "Umm...well...it's really dull where I live and having all this music and theater and even the Phantom around would be far more interesting," she replied.

"I don't know," said Ryou looking at Bakura out of the corner of his eye, "He can be a nuisance sometimes."

Mau blushed a little further. "I meant it would be interesting to hear all of the good music, and try to see if the phantom rumor is true," she said a little defensively.

Maria sighed and decided to change the subject. "Bakura, what level do you live on?" she asked.

"I wondered that too," said Mau.

Bakura turned to them. "I live below the theater on the river," he replied, "I'll have to take you there."

"Really? I didn't know there was a river," Maria said to Mau agreeing with her.

Mau looked deep in thought for a minute and then asked quietly, "Forgive me for sounding rude, but I've been wondering since you came in...is there a reason you're wearing a mask?"

Bakura fingered his mask gently. "Yes," he said slowly, "half of my face is genetically deformed."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Mau apologetically.

Bakura's temper flared for a second. Oh how he hated it when people were curious about his face, and then act sorry for him. That's why he chose not to interact with people. "Don't feel sorry for me. I really don't care anymore, so neither should you," he said a little harshly.

Maria jumped a bit at his tone of voice. Obviously Mau had struck a nerve.

"So, what do you enjoy most of the theater?" asked Mau to break the uneasy silence that had settled.

"We try to make it a point to learn every nook and cranny of the theater, but all we know is the basements so far," said Ryou.

Mau nodded as a response and looked at Maria curiously. Maria noticed the stare and replied, "Yes Mau? What can I do for you?" causing Bakura to laugh.

"Well...I...umm...it's rather strange that you're being so quiet...are you trying to force me to speak to people again?" Mau asked.

Maria started laughing. "No, you just keep taking words out of my mouth!" she said between laughs.

Mau giggled. "Than I shall have to shut my mouth," she said miming her zippering her mouth shut.

"Don't," said Bakura softly, "I like your voice."

Mau blushed quite taken aback. "There's...n-nothing special about my voice, Maria is the one auditioning," she mumbled.

"Well, I like the sound of it, why don't you audition?" asked Bakura.

Now it was Mau's turn to become uncomfortable. "My father forbade me to," she said slowly.

Maria's P.O.V.

Mau's father forbade her? Why would he do that? Unless it's what I think it is. I didn't say anything, but I shot a suspicious look at Mau.

Mau caught my look and looked down. "I'm sorry Maria. I didn't want to tell you, but it's true," she muttered.

"Why doesn't he want you to?" asked Ryou in my place.

"He just doesn't," said Mau not looking up. I can tell she's hiding something, or she wouldn't look down like that.

"That's just plain weird," said Bakura bluntly.

"I know, but I have to listen to my father," said Mau sounding pretty close to tears.

Me and Ryou looked at each other and nodded. "Would you girls like to go anywhere else?" asked Ryou gracefully changing the subject.

"Sure," said Mau looking up.

Bakura looked thoughtful. "We could go to my place," he said, "It's not far, and I could give you girls lunch."

As soon as he said that, my stomach growled loudly. "I guess that's my answer," I said causing Ryou and Bakura to start laughing.

Mau smiled. "I'll go, but I'm not hungry," she said.

"Follow me then," said Bakura walking off. The trip was an interesting one, with Bakura and Ryou telling hilarious stories about the others. Reaching the river, Mau stopped and looked at it.

"You okay?" I asked waving my hand in front of her face.

Snapping out of it, Mau looked at me sheepishly. "Sorry," she said, "I guess I spaced out for a bit.

Bakura just shook his head and motioned for us to follow. "So girls, where do you live?" he asked.

Mau gave him her street name, and I gave him mine. "I live on the other side of town from the theater," I said.

As we reached the house, Mau looked around interestedly. "This is an interesting place," she said with a smile.

"Thanks," replied Bakura, "Please, come in and make yourself at home."

YSF: gazes boredly at the computer screen Why does this have to take so long to type? I have everything I need that is past the RP that I have up till after the first performance that I mention. Seto, Do you have something that will type it for me?

Kaiba: sigh no

YSF: oh well, I laugh at you anyway. I saw the Yu-Gi-Oh Movie yesterday, and you got your arse whipped by Yami. What was the life point score at one point before Anubis took over? Your 2,400 to Yami's 200? And he still managed to beat you? Pa-the-tic.

Yami: lmao

Kaiba: shut up.


	5. Auditions and the Classy Phantom

Bakura's P.O.V.

"Thanks," I replied, "Please, come in and make yourself at home."

Maria walked into my house and curiously looked around. "How can you have a house underground?" she wondered out loud.

"Well, since it's a big cavern, it's built just like a normal house," I said with a shrug.

Ryou headed towards the kitchen. "Would you like anything, Mau?" he asked.

Mau shook her head. "Umm...no thank you, I ate before I got here," she said.

Maria replied, "I didn't, I was in a car all morning. Apparently, this town is really big."

As Ryou shrugged and disappeared into the kitchen, Mau noticed a piano off to the side. Going to it, she started shifting through the sheet music spread on top of it.

"You may play it if you wish," I said motioning to the piano.

"I...I can't read music that well..." said Mau shyly, "...I was just looking to see if there were any titles I could recognize."

I had to laugh, I couldn't help it. "I don't think that you will recognize anything, they are all made by me," I said still laughing gently, "But maybe you can play us a song by ear."

Mau laughed. "That's all that I can do. I learn by ear, unfortunately."

I smiled. "I taught myself by ear, and look how I turned out, I can compose music like it's nothing," I said.

"Maria can read music really well," continued Mau once again taking Maria's words out of her mouth, "Every time she tries to explain it to me I never understand it for some reason."

"Well, I can read it, sing it, but not play it, that's Mau's forte once she knows what to do," Maria said as soon as Mau stopped talking.

"Look at us bickering over something so silly. You must think that we are strange," giggled Mau turning to me.

"Not at all," I said sadly thinking of my deformity.

"Bakura? What's wrong? You look so very sad," said Mau genuinely concerned.

"It's nothing," I said hastily as Ryou re-entered the room with a tray of sandwiches.

Normal P.O.V.

Ryou decided to break the silence. "I got you some tea Mau," he said.

Mau looked at Ryou gratefully. "Thanks," she said.

As Ryou nodded, Bakura said, "Would you like me to play for you?"

Once Maria and Mau nodded, Bakura got up and walked over to the piano. Sitting down, he took out a folder and started looking through some old looking papers.

"You're lucky," whispered Ryou to the girls, "Bakura never plays those for just anyone."

Bakura found what he was looking for, and clearing his throat, began to play. After a few notes, Bakura started singing.

_Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation._

_Darkness wakes, and stirs imagination._

_Silently the senses abandon their defenses._

_Helpless to resist the notes I write,_

_For I compose the music of the night._

_Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendor._

_Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender._

_Hearing is believing, music is deceiving._

_Hard as lightning, soft as candlelight._

_Dare you trust the music of the night?_

_Close your eyes for your eyes will only tell the truth._

_And the truth isn't what you want to see._

_In the dark it is easy to pretend,_

_That the truth is what it ought to be._

As Mau listened, she got a distant look on her face as if in a trance.

_Softly, deftly, music shall caress you._

_Hear it, feel it, secretly posses you._

_Open up you mind, let your fantasies unwind._

_In this darkness which you know you cannot fight,_

_The darkness of the music of the night._

_Close your eyes start a journey to a strange, new, world._

_Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before._

_Close your eyes, and let music set you free._

_Only then, can you belong to me._

_Floating, falling, sweet intoxication._

_Touch me, trust me, savor each sensation._

_Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in._

_To the power of the music that I write._

_The power of the music of the night._

_You alone can make my song take flight._

_Help me make the music of the night._

Maria didn't realize it, but she had been humming along perfectly with the music. Ryou and Bakura had heard though, and were looking at her when Bakura finished.

"How do you know that song?" asked Bakura.

"It has been passed down from my great-great-grandmother," replied Maria.

"I-Impossible. My grandfather's grandfather never played it for anyone," said Bakura. 'Unless she's who I think she is,' he thought.

"So," said Mau, "It's an inherited piece? Maybe her ancestor knew your ancestor."

"Yeah… maybe," said Bakura distractedly. Ryou knew that was a sign that Bakura didn't want to discuss it anymore, so he changed the subject.

"Mau, you said that you can play songs by memory. Why not play us one?" Ryou suggested.

"Alright," replied Mau going over to the piano. Sitting down, she begins to play some music like a bird would be flapping it's wings at certain times, then begins to sing:

_Lully lullay, lully lullay the falcon hath borne my love away,_

_He bare him up, he bare him down, he bare him into an orchard brown._

_Lully lully lullay, lully lullay, the falcon hath borne my love away._

_There was a hall hang'd with purple and pall and in that hall there was a bed._

_And that bed was decked with red, red and gold…_

_Lully lullay, (and in the orchard), there was a great hall…lullay…_

As Mau sang this, her expression turned sad for the final part.

_And in that bed, there lay a knight, his wounds bleeding day and night._

_And by that bedside, was a maiden weeping day and night._

_Lully lully lullay, lully lullay, the falcon hath borne my love away._

_Lully…lullay…(pray let him stay…) the falcon hath borne him away, lully lullay…_

"Very good, Mau," said Maria once the song ended, "I see that you got better at that song."

"Excellent," said Ryou clapping with Bakura.

"Thanks," said Mau blushing.

"We better get going," said Maria looking at her watch.

"I'll take you up," said Bakura standing, "I know of a really handy shortcut."

After waving goodbye to Ryou and exiting the house, Maria asked Bakura, "So, what kind of shortcut is this?"

Bakura looked at them, grinned, and led them back to the bottom level of the basement. Pushing a panel into the wall, Bakura easily replied as the wall slid open: "A hidden elevator."

"How big is this elevator?" asked Mau shakily.

"Big enough to fit fifteen grown men in it, why?" asked Bakura.

Mau looked at the floor, and didn't reply. "She's a little claustrophobic," said Maria making something up, much to Mau's relief.

"Oh, well, don't worry. The three of us will have plenty of room," assured Bakura.

Maria walked into the elevator and whistled. "It's big!" she exclaimed.

Bakura shrugged in reply and entered after Mau had gone against the back wall. The ride was silent as the elevator climbed the floors of the basement. Once it stopped at the ground floor, Bakura said, "Go when the coast is clear. Not many know about this elevator."

"Thank you Bakura," said Maria and Mau together as they exited and the door started closing.

"No problem, see you later." replied Bakura with a smile and a wave as the elevator door closed fully.

Maria's P.O.V.

We stood there for a few moments after Bakura left. Finally, Mau asked me, "How much time do we have left?"

I looked at my watch and thought for a second. "Enough time to get to the room and catch our breath," I joked.

With a laugh, we started off. After a minute, Mau said, "Do you think that I should try out?"

"Well, I can't make you, but I think it would be fun if you did," I said.

"I guess I'll try out," she said with a sigh, "but I hope I don't make it. Helar wouldn't like it if I did."

I nodded in consent. Helar, Mau's father, is really, really strict. If he doesn't want Mau to do something, she shouldn't do it. Reaching the first practice room, we entered and looked around.

"Wow," was all I could say about the amount of people.

"A-at least the room is big," muttered Mau sitting in a chair well enough away from the others, so that her fear wouldn't kick in as badly.

Sitting next to her, I observed the people in the room. Most looked relaxed, and some were close to losing their minds from nervousness. I inwardly groaned when I saw who would be watching the auditions. Téa, the current "star", was sitting across the room glaring at the auditioners.

"Hey Mau, look who is going to be watching the auditions," I said in an undertone. Mau looked to where I pointed and grinned. "She's probably listening to see if there's going to be anyone good enough to take her spot as lead singer…namely you," Mau replied with a laugh.

"I know what song I'm doing, do you?" I asked.

"I don't know. You know that I don't know many," said Mau.

"Then just do the one that you did for Ryou and Bakura a few minutes ago, and I'll go before you so you can prepare," I replied in a whisper as Seto came in and started the auditions.

Normal P.O.V.

After the auditions…

Maria and Mau were walking down the hall discussing the audition. "I don't think I did that well," said Mau.

"Relax," said Maria, "you did fine."

"Maybe so, but did you see the look on Téa's face when she heard you sing? It was pure shock!" exclaimed Mau.

Laughing, the girls didn't see Seto come up to them until he spoke. "Hello Maria, Mau," he said.

"Hi," replied Maria. Mau just nodded hello.

"I have the audition results, would you like them?" asked Seto.

"Alright," said Mau wondering how she did.

"Mau, I'll do you first. You sang quite well, but I can tell that you weren't too comfortable performing in front of that many people. Since I'm a fair person, how would you like to work backstage with lighting and things like that?" asked Seto.

Mau didn't reply, but looked at Maria for help. Maria, seeing the look, said, "Do what you like, Mau." Then she added in an undertone so that Mau could only hear, "I would ask your father first though."

Mau nodded at that advice, and, turning to Seto, said, "Can I have a day to think about it?"

"Of course, take as long as you like," Seto replied with a smile. Turning to Maria, his grin grew bigger as he said, "And you are our new lead singer. Of course I can't give you lead parts yet because your voice is untrained, but in time, you will replace our old lead singer.

Mau beamed. "Congratulations Maria!" she exclaimed, "I knew you could make it!"

"thank you so much!" said Maria to Seto.

"No problem. Just do me a favor, and don't tell Téa. I plan to break it to her slowly," laughed Seto, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go tell the more… umm… unfortunate souls that they didn't make it."

"All right, thanks again," Maria said as Seto walked away. Once he was out of earshot, Maria turned to Mau, and said, "If I didn't want to risk getting lost, I would go down and tell Bakura and Ryou the good news."

"Yeah," agreed Mau, "but I'm sure that they will find out sooner or later. And speaking of later, I better go. Since the auditions are over, I don't want to get in trouble for wasting time."

"Go ahead, I'll be going home soon too. I'll see you tomorrow," replied Maria.

"All right, see you," said Mau leaving. Maria walked off to find Seto. When she found him, she went up to him and said, "Seto? I was wondering, since I live on the other side of town, I was wondering if I could stay here."

"Well, I would let you, but I don't have any room except for in the basement under the stage," said Seto.

"Okay, how do I get down there?" asked Maria.

"Backstage, there's stairs going down to the first basement level," said Seto, "I should tell you this now. There's a person that lives on the same floor that you will be on."

"You mean Ryou? Me and Mau met him when we were exploring. He gave us a tour of the theater," said Maria.

"Okay, I'll ask him to help you get situated," said Seto walking off.

"Ask who to get you situated where?" asked Ryou coming out from behind the curtains on stage.

"Seto was going to ask you to help me get situated in the basement," explained Maria climbing up on stage to join him.

"Well, there's a room down there that's not used. You could use that," said Ryou disappearing down the stairs. Following him, Maria suddenly wondered something.

"Why did you come up on stage, and not through the statue?" asked Maria.

Ryou laughed. "Because," he said stopping in front of a cleaned off door, "It's much closer to my room than the statue is. The door across from us is your room. You can put your bag in my room while we clear yours out."

2 hours later

Maria and Ryou sat in the middle of Maria's now clean room eating pizza and talking about anything that came to their mind. "Ryou," said Maria between mouthfuls, "I was wondering. Why were you coming up into the auditorium?"

Ryou looked thoughtful for a second. "I was looking for Bakura. He thought it would be funny to hide when I left the room for a minute, and I've basically searched the whole theater for him," he said.

"And I see that you had given up," said Bakura from the doorway. Ryou jumped and glared at the doorway.

"Where did you hide?" asked Maria as Bakura joined them and grabbed a piece of pizza.

"Box five," snapped Ryou, "He always hides there, and then when I go up there to look for him, he scares me half to death."

Bakura just shrugged and changed the subject.

A few hours later, the excitement of getting the title of future lead singer hadn't let up. Maria was currently up on the stage looking out at the seats just thinking to clear her mind enough to actually be tired. As she sat there, she couldn't help but wonder why Bakura suddenly acted distant and mysterious when she told him and Ryou the good news. Getting bored of sitting there, she stood up and started amusing herself by singing a song and dancing a dance to it that her cousins had taught her that was fun and crazy to do, but looked quite graceful.

When she finished, she took a bow to the imaginary crowd, and stood up straight, surprised that she heard clapping. Looking into the dark auditorium, she saw a man sitting in the third row with his feet up on the seat in front of him. Finishing clapping, the man leaned back in the chair and said in a mysterious, gentle voice, "You know, you have a beautiful voice. It needs training though."

"So I've heard," retorted Maria, "Who are you? And what do want?"

"Manners, manners. I merely want to train you," the figure said stepping out into the light that Maria had turned on. The figure had a white button-down shirt (with the collar button open) on covered by an open black jacket. He wore a black cape that went to the ankles that had a high collar hiding his ponytail (it was obvious that he had long hair), he also wore somewhat tight black leather pants, and black shoes. But what mystified Maria the most, was that he had a mask on that looked like Bakura's, but covered the full face, plus a hat that when the brim was pulled down far enough, it overshadowed the eyes.

"As for who I am," the figure said backing out of the direct light, "I am the phantom of the opera at your service. If you're still doubtful, I know Seto Kaiba and he'll say that I am a legit voice trainer."

Maria could see that he wasn't lying. "Alright," she conceded, "You can train me."

"Perfect, we can start right now. And before you ask, which I know you will, I wear this mask to conceal my identity. In time, I may reveal it to you," said the phantom siting down in a seat again. When he jumped off the stage, Maria couldn't say. Without another word, the phantom began training Maria for a good portion of the night.

YSF: Whew! Nine pages, my longest one yet. I accidentally passed my end of chapter. It was supposed to end when they got off the elevator, but I got carried away. Remember: read, review, and I promise it gets better and somewhat funnier.


	6. Rivalries and Tension

**IMPORTANT:**Before I begin this chapter, I want to tell you guys something. I got a flame a bit ago for chapter two, saying that my story sucked, and it was the day after I posted my fifth chapter. All I ask is for you to read all of the current chapters first, and then review. I try my best to make this good, and I want honest feedback once you've read the whole thing. If you want to flame me, go ahead, but just do it for the whole story, and not two fifths into it… thank you.

The next morning, Maria woke up and at first couldn't figure out where she was. Then as she yawned, she felt her throat contract in protest and remembered the previous night. "This is going to be interesting to see how long my voice lasts," she said with a chuckle sliding out of bed and getting dressed.

Exiting her room, Maria saw Ryou's door open. "Good morning Ryou!" she said walking into Ryou's room. Ryou looked up from the book he was reading, and grinned. "Good morning," he replied marking his page and closing the book, "sleep well?"

"I guess. I was up on the stage last night thinking, and I saw the phantom. He's not what I expected," said Maria with a shrug.

"Oh really," said Ryou with a smile, "and why, pray tell."

"He's rude!" came the blunt answer.

Ryou wasn't expecting that, so all he could do was laugh. While Maria glared at him, Ryou managed to tell her to ask Bakura about the phantom before he started laughing again. Fuming, Maria went to the stairs, and started downward, only to crash into Bakura coming up the stairs. With a yelp, both of them tumbled down the stairs until Bakura stopped at the bottom, and Maria landed on him.

Neither did anything for a minute. Finally, Maria crawled off Bakura with an embarrassed grin. "Sorry," she said.

Bakura just reached up and straightened his mask, which had slightly shifted upon the impact of his head on the floor. "It's ok. Are you alright?" he asked standing up and helping Maria up.

"A little embarrassed and dusty, but otherwise fine," Maria replied dusting herself off.

Bakura laughed and started up the stairs. "And where were you headed to so fast?" he asked.

Maria started up the stairs and replied, "Looking for you."

Bakura grinned and waited for Maria to finish climbing the stairs. "Let me tell you a secret. I come up every morning to say good morning to Ryou. If you need to tell me something, just wait," said Bakura with another laugh.

Maria laughed and walked next to Bakura. "Hey Bakura," she said after a minute, "I was wondering if you knew anything about the phantom."

Bakura stopped and stared at Maria. "You know the phantom?" he asked.

"Yes, do you know him?" asked Maria.

Bakura was silent for a second and then started walking again. "I would rather not talk about it," Bakura said over his shoulder before vanishing into the shadows.

Maria knew that it was hopeless to pester him and went up to the auditorium. 'I should go to the practice room. Practice will start soon,' Maria thought leaving the auditorium not knowing that Bakura watched her go from a box seat.

About an hour later, Maria was sitting in the practice room looking at the music that was for the next musical. Seto didn't want her to practice with the others just yet. He said that he preferred that she trained her voice first and practice on her own. Maria's thoughts were interrupted by someone coming up to her and clearing their throat. Looking up, Maria saw Téa standing in front of her with her hands on her hips.

"So you're the new singer, nothing special about you," sneered Téa, "I hope you don't believe that you'll replace me."

Maria looked somewhat hurt and was about to say something nasty in return when a girl stepped in. "Shut up Téa. You have no right to make those comments. Obviously Seto picked her for a reason, and I can name quite a few if you don't get your fat self away from us this instant," snapped the girl.

Téa looked taken aback. Recovering, she held her nose in the air and walking off, said, "Whatever Schala."

"Thanks," said Maria smiling at Schala.

Schala smiled back and sat down next to Maria. "No problem," she said, "I hate Téa, everyone hates Téa. You just have to ignore her. If that's impossible, like it usually is, then put her down hard. She especially hate fat insults considering she's probably anorexic."

"I'll remember that," laughed Maria looking towards the door wondering why Mau hadn't come yet.

"What's wrong?" asked Schala looking also towards the door, "Looking for a boyfriend?"

"No! I'm looking for my best friend. You saw her yesterday," said Maria frowning, "She said she'd be here."

Schala thought hard and put a comical expression on. "Quiet girl, purple hair, grey eyes, and a few inches short of another foot?" she asked.

"Yes that's Mau. I wish she were here. You'd like each other," Maria replied going back to her music. She and Schala talked for a bit longer, until Schala had to leave to go practice her dance steps.

Meanwhile, Ryou was headed down to Bakura's. Just as he reached the door, he was greeted by the sound of many piano keys being pounded really hard in frustration, causing a racket.

"Composing problems again?" asked Ryou entering and sitting on the piano.

Bakura looked up at Ryou and just glared. Ryou took it as a yes. "You should learn to do something quieter and maybe outside of the theater," he said as Bakura decided to continue to relieve his anger on the piano instead of his little brother.

Finishing pounding, Bakura looked at Ryou with an incredulous look. "Did you forget about something?" asked Bakura wondering how Ryou could be so smart, yet so stupid at times. When Ryou shook his head, Bakura confirmed the suspicion that his brother was nuts.

Ripping off his mask, Bakura glared with all of the fury that he kept bottled up for years. "You forgot about this twisted thing that I call a face!" snapped Bakura.

Needless to say, Bakura frightened Ryou so much, that Ryou fell off of the piano. Bakura calmed down and put his mask back on. Kneeling down, he scooped his trembling brother into a hug.

"Oh Ryou," Bakura murmured slowly calming Ryou down, "I'm sorry for yelling, I'm just getting so frustrated with my appearance. I want to do other things. I don't want to live down here my whole life, but when I was little, I was shunned and ridiculed because of my mask. I haven't trusted the outside since."

Ryou stopped shaking and slowly hugged Bakura back. "I'll forgive you on one condition," said Ryou smiling a small smile.

Bakura looked confused. "What would that be?" he asked pulling away and looking at Ryou.

Ryou's grin grew bigger. "You've got to promise me that you won't take your mask off in front of me ever again. I almost had a heart attack!"

Bakura started laughing. "Deal," he agreed.

That night, Maria was on stage waiting for the phantom to come and continue teaching her, when she heard footsteps coming up behind her. Turning, she saw Ryou approaching her.

"What are you still doing up?" asked Ryou looking at his watch.

"Waiting for the phantom."

Ryou smiled and sat next to Maria. "How do you know he'll come?" Ryou countered.

"He's my music teacher. He says that he's the only one who can bring out my full potential," replied Maria shrugging.

Ryou shook his head. "Just don't let him overwork your voice," cautioned Ryou, "If not, you won't be able to talk tomorrow."

"You don't need to nag, I'll be fine," Maria reassured standing up.

Ryou stood also and said, "I guess I'll go down to bed." Before leaving though, Ryou turned and gave Maria a quick kiss. As Ryou disappeared, Maria watched him go with a stunned expression gracing her features.

"Ah, young love," came the phantom's voice all around her. Whirling around, Maria jumped when she realized that the phantom had come up right behind her when she wasn't looking.

"Shut up. I bet you don't have enough grace or politeness to do that," Maria snapped. The phantom flinched, and what was visible of his face darkened for an instant. Shrugging, the phantom walked over to the piano and sat down.

"Did Kaiba give you the music?" was the only thing that Maria caught from his voice being oddly quiet. Nodding, Maria walked over and laid the folder on the piano.

"Good, tonight we shall start to learn the music," said the phantom playing a little warm-up tune.

About an hour later, Maria and the phantom were making progress. The phantom noted that Maria was a quick learner, and could memorize the pieces quite quickly. The only problem was that she couldn't hit a note that was crucial to the one song. "Try again," said the phantom softly when Maria got so frustrated, that she was close to tears. Nodding and taking a second to calm down, Maria tried again, only to come about two pitches short. The phantom, instead of yelling, decided to take his frustration out in his "favorite" way… bang the keys with his head.

Maria stopped what she was doing, and looked at the phantom with an odd look. Then she started laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked the phantom stopping. Maria kept giggling and just shook her head.

"Y-you l-look funny doing that!" Maria exclaimed a bit breathless while still laughing. The phantom grinned and stood up from the piano, his cloak immediately swinging down to his ankles.

"Oh really?" he asked coming closer. Maria backed up, not liking the closing gap between them. Backing into the wall, Maria watched the phantom come closer until there was about a few inches between them. Stopping, he put a hand under her chin and tilted Maria's head up so that she was forced to look into his brown and glittering eyes.

"I may be humorous," said the phantom slowly, "but you are scared of something. That's why you can't hit the highest notes, and that's why you backed up when I approached. I want to get rid of that fear, but I need to know it so I can work that out of your system. If not, you'll never surpass your current level." The phantom let Maria go and stood back a few steps.

Maria looked at the stage and thought about her fears. "I'm afraid of a few things," she began, "I'm afraid of Téa's wrath when I do take over her spot, I'm afraid for my friend Mau even though I don't know why…"

"Go on," said the phantom, "it sounds like there's something else."

Maria nodded and looked the phantom in the face. "And I'm terrified of you. I don't know what you look like under that mask, and that makes me insecure, and you always seem to be full of unpleasant things," she said going right up to the phantom, "I know that I can get over at least one of my fears if you let me take off that mask."

The phantom was incredibly shocked by her words, but was also proud that she voiced her honest feelings about him. "I'm sorry, I can't just yet, but I'll give you a clue, I'm someone you know."

"But…" came the only thing to Maria's mind.

"I want to surprise you with who I am," said the Phantom, "I didn't mean to scare you, but I wanted to train your voice and _I_ want to see you do your very best against Téa, which is only possible through me. I'm sorry if I misled you."

"There's one thing that I would like to know though," said Maria relieved.

"go ahead, it's the least that I can do."

"How did you jump off the stage and sit in a chair soundlessly and in less than a second?"

The phantom laughed a rich laugh and suddenly looked at Maria from an auditorium seat. "My great-great-grandfather was the original phantom, deformed by a gypsy's abortion potion that went wrong. Apparently, he got a special ability with his deformity to move from room to room or from one place to another as sudden as a flashlight being turned on and as silent and gliding as a ghost. Since the deformity was passed to me, the abilities came to me also," said the Phantom with a smile.

"That's a neat trick… Phantom?"

"Yeah?"

Maria slid off the stage and joined him. "I'm sorry for what I said about you not having grace and politeness. I just don't like being mocked," she said bowing her head. 

The phantom smiled at Maria his eyes laughing. "I know," he said, "and apology accepted. I think I'll end practice tonight here."

Maria smiled, stood up, and gave the Phantom a little kiss on his mask. "Thank you for everything you've done. May we beat Téa into the dirt with our combined teamwork," she laughed. The phantom laughed too and went into the shadows where he vanished.

The next day, Maria sat in practice in the back of the auditorium watching Téa sing, and with Schala mimicking her silently as usual, making notes knowing that these would be good to learn what not to do when she became the lead singer. Hearing the door quietly open, she looked over and saw Mau slip in being careful not to hit her left arm which was bound in a sling and cast.

"Mau! What happened?" I asked going over to her.

Mau smiled a little sheepishly. "I...kinda tripped and fell down the stairs...I was lucky that...it's not anything worse then a slight fracture," she said looking a little pale.

Maria looked a little suspicious. It seemed to her now, that she was understanding a hidden answer that she wished wasn't even thinking of that was going on with Mau. 'It can't be,' she thought, 'but she's used this before."

"Didn't you say that you tripped and fell down the stairs last time something of yours was broken?" Maria asked trying to stomp her fears.

"Well, yes. I'm afraid I'm a klutz," said Mau blushing.

Maria's eyes narrowed. "Mau, I've known you so long, I can tell when you are trying to hide something... you can tell me," she said trying to get a confession out of Mau.

Mau shook her head sadly. "I…I'm sorry, I can't," came the reply out of her mouth as she tried to go past Maria.

Maria's P.O.V.

Okay, something is up. She's even avoiding my eyes now. Grabbing her good arm gently, I spun Mau around and put my hands on her shoulders so she couldn't twist away. "Why not?" I asked, "It's not like I'd tell someone."

"...If I told you...I...I would never forgive myself..." stuttered Mau shaking visibly. I know she has Haptephobia, fear of human touch, but she's never had it with me…okay, now I'm worried. I'm still not impressed, but I'll let it go for now.

"Fine," I said letting my hands drop off of Mau's shoulders, "I'll play along, but I will find out what you're hiding sooner or later."

YSF: boredly stares at the screen ……………………………………

Mau: enters huh? YSF?

YSF: head falls onto the keyboard nmhhhhhhdfdzhdzf,f,f,f,ghktuuuuuuuudt

Mau: ; oh boy

Maria: she's overworked herself again… while we revive her, would you please read and review?


	7. Pranking, pushing, and prodding

Mau's P.O.V.

When Maria gets determined, she becomes scary. I wish I could tell her what I've been hiding, but I know Helar, my father, will kill her if I do. "I'm sorry," I said quietly.

Maria's mood let up and she patted me on the shoulder. "It's all right, I just worry about you a lot," she replied with a smile.

"I appreciate it, but I don't want you to worry, you have enough on your mind," I said deciding to change the subject, "Is Seto still here?"

Maria snorted, that's a good sign. We know each other too well. "Yeah, just before you came, he was telling Tea off for missing a crucial note by a lot," she laughed.

"Oh really?" I laughed feeling better already, "I bet that's going to start happening more often."

Maria shrugged in a dismissive manner. "Yeah," she said, "oh yeah! Guess what Mau? There really is a phantom."

I was surprised at that. "Really? Did you see him?" I asked.

Maria shifted from side to side in a distracted way. "In a matter of speaking. He hides his face, but he dresses very stylish," she replied.

"How mysterious," I giggled.

Maria laughed too. "I asked Ryou and Bakura about him, but Ryou just started laughing, and Bakura changed the subject, and hastily too," she said her face clouding in thought.

"That's strange," I started, and saw Seto getting up from where he was sitting, "I'll be right back."

Going over to Seto, I hesitated and then tapped him on the shoulder. "Seto? I-I'm sorry that I didn't come yesterday. I kind of had a nasty fall," I said with a small, embarrassed blush.

Seto smiled in understanding. "That's all right," he said, "You didn't miss anything."

"The good news is that I am able to work here… umm, if I can do it with one arm," I said looking down at my arm.

"You don't have to worry about that," Seto laughed, "I'll let you do lights. All you have to do is sit at the switchboard and flip the switches at the correct time."

"Okay, thank you," I said walking back to Maria. "Do you think we'll be able to go see Ryou and Bakura?" I asked reaching her.

Maria's eyes lit up. "Sure, I'm actually staying here across from Ryou, so I'm picking up on the secret passages and whatnot," she said motioning for me to follow.

Following Maria out of the room, I instinctively headed towards the statue but was pulled gently in the opposite direction.

"I know a quicker way," Maria said leading me into the auditorium and onto the stage.

"I don't see a way," I said confusingly. Maria smiled and going behind a curtain, opened a trap door.

Normal P.O.V.

"Down here," Maria said heading down and walking along the passage. Stopping outside of a door, she motioned Mau closer. "This is Ryou's room," she said knocking on the door, "Ryou, can me and Mau come in?"

"But of course," came Ryou's voice.

Following Maria in, Mau smiled sheepishly. "Hello," she said, "I'm sorry I didn't come yesterday, I really wanted to though."

Bakura looked up from where he was sitting on the floor cleaning a replica of his mask except this one had a silver sheen to it. "It's okay. We figured you were busy," he replied in a soft tone as if he were talking to a kitten or something small and fragile.

Mau subconsciously touched her cast as she looked at the three. "I-If you say so," she murmured.

Bakura put down his mask and yawned. "Please tell me Téa is done attempting to sing, she's giving me a headache," he complained. Ryou wordlessly handed him an aspirin bottle.

Mau giggled. "Even I could probably do a better job than her," she said, covering her mouth with her hand as Maria laughed, blushing at her outburst.

Ryou chuckled quietly. "I have a feeling that anyone can do tons better than Téa," he replied, his eyes sparkling with mirth.

Mau smiled, sitting down in a seat. "Did Maria tell you that I would probably be working in the theater?" she asked.

Ryou smiled. "She mentioned it yesterday. At least we'll be able to do things together," he said.

Mau didn't reply but looked at the ground. Maria, deciding to lighten the mood, whispered to Mau, "Watch Bakura's expression and see if you can pick up anything that I can't."

"Bakura, why won't you tell me about the phantom? He told me that he knows you," Maria asked innocently, watching Bakura's face take on a really odd expression.

"Bakura? How do you know him? What...what does he look like?" asked Mau getting in on it as Ryou picked up Bakura's discarded mask and resumed Bakura's task of polishing it, wanting no part of this conversation.

Bakura grew slightly panicked. There was no way they could have figured it out, but… Making something up on the fly, he mumbled, "If you must know, he…he lives near me, though he hasn't been seen in the theater for many years."

Maria just looked at Mau with an expression that clearly stated: bull. Mau, nodding slightly, pressed a little farther. "Then, you're saying that you haven't seen him...though he told Maria that he knew you?" she asked.

"No, I've seen him, just people in the theater haven't. He wears a mask, cape, and long articles of clothing. Brown eyes, no clue what color hair... keeps it hidden, and is quite tall, maybe between Ryou's height and mine," Bakura explained.

"Don't flatter yourself. You're not that much taller than me," Ryou muttered, turning the mask over and start polishing the other side.

"And the mask is a full-face mask," Maria added to a nod from Bakura.

"What…What do you think of him?" Mau timidly asked.

"I don't know! I never talk to him!" Bakura snapped, losing his temper.

"I-I'm sorry," Mau whispered fearfully, shrinking into her chair.

Bakura realized instantly that he made a mistake. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten mad," he said bowing his head.

"I…should have kept my mouth shut," Mau whispered, "I don't want anyone else mad at me."

At those words, Bakura's eyes narrowed in concern. Standing up, he walked over and crouched in front of Mau, using a finger to lift her chin so that she was looking at him. "What do you mean by that?" he asked softly and gently, seeing her flinch at the touch.

"Nothing," she replied sadly, standing up, "I should go see what I will be doing to work." As Mau left the room, Maria was sure she could see silent tears roll down the small girl's face.

"I don't know what's wrong with her, she's been acting distant all day. She used to tell me what was wrong, but she keeps it locked up now so tight, I can't help her anymore. Maybe I'm…" Maria said trailing off, too horrified at her own thoughts to continue.

"You're not a bad friend," Ryou soothed as if he could read her mind, putting down Bakura's mask, "I can't think of a reason why she would shut us out like that though. Maybe it has something to do with her arm?"

"It's possible. How did her arm break?" Bakura asked turning around and swapping his masks so that he now looked out of the silver one.

Maria's face clouded. "She said she fell down the stairs," she started, "But she's used that excuse every time a bone or something is broken or sprained."

"By the way she was acting, that doesn't seem likely," Bakura said in thought.

Ryou nodded. "I agree," he said, "By the way she cringed when Bakura got irritated, you think she's being abused or something."

"Yeah. I used to live next to her, but my parents moved me across town for unclear reasons. They said that they wanted a change of scenery, which I think is totally crap," Maria said.

"Maria, I need you to get Mau down here. We need to find out the truth. That point Ryou said is a valid explanation," Bakura said, a determined fire coming into his eyes that Ryou hadn't seen for about five years.

"Well of course it's valid, I'm the brains of us two," Ryou joked.

Maria rolled her eyes and left the room as Bakura and Ryou started bickering. Going up to the stage, Maria found Mau sitting on the stage, her legs dangling over the edge, reading a list of switch numbers, attempting to commit them to memory.

"How's it going?" Maria asked softly, sitting next to Mau.

"Okay," Mau replied not looking up from her list.

"Is rehearsal done? I don't hear singing or Téa being yelled at anymore," Maria asked.

Mau looked up and listened. "I heard the tail end of her being told off. At this rate, you'll replace her in no time," she replied with a small smile.

Maria laughed. "I wonder what Téa's going to do when I get trained enough to replace her?" she wondered.

"Maybe work at McDonalds?"

"Possibly, are you going to come back down later?" Maria asked.

"...Yeah, I guess I could right now if it won't be that long," Mau said after a moments hesitation.

"Okay, Ryou told me to tell you that you can come whenever you want," Maria said standing and helping Mau up.

Mau nodded. "Okay...Bakura...isn't still mad is he?" she asked.

"No, he cooled down quite quickly," Maria replied heading down the stairs.

Neither said anything until they reached the room. Entering, Ryou looked up and smiled.

"Welcome back," he said as Bakura waved slightly from where he was now cleaning the white mask.

"Thank you," Mau said sitting in her chair.

Bakura put down his now clean mask. "What shall the four of us do? I for one feel like pranking Téa

"Umm...I don't know..." Mau started not, really one to want to hurt anyone, no matter how they act.

Ryou cut her off with a soft laugh. "Go do it yourself Bakura... his pranks are harmless, Mau. All he's wanted to do is put hair dye in her shampoo," he explained.

"Oh dear..." was all Mau could say.

"What color?" Maria, on the other hand, asked with a grin.

"Bright pink?" Bakura suggested.

Mau giggled. "Only she likes pink so..."

"How about black then? She loathes that color," Maria said then.

Bakura grinned and started to leave. "Perfect, I'll be back in a bit," he called over his shoulder.

Ryou watched him go. "Pity," he said heavily, "I was going to suggest white."

Mau looked at him. "...Would you want her to have your hair color?" she asked.

Ryou shrugged and replied, "I wouldn't care, but Bakura might."

"...I'm...sorry I left like that earlier..." Mau said looking a bit regretful that Bakura left before she thought to apologize.

Ryou smiled. "It's no problem. We figured that you wanted alone time," he replied.

Mau still looked uneasy. "...It was still rude of me..."

"Bakura does it all the time. I'm used to it," Ryou replied.

Mau looked away. "...I'm still sorry..." she whispered.

Maria said nothing but gave Ryou a warning look when Mau wasn't looking. Ryou, seeing the look, shut up immediately.

"Maybe...it was a mistake to get a job here...I'm only troubling you," Mau said looking back over.

"Not at all... we like having you around... trust me when I say this, it's very lonely down here," Ryou hurriedly said.

"If you're sure..." Mau sighed.

"I'm sure," Ryou replied with a smile as Bakura slipped back into the room with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"So Mau, tell me about your family. Do you have any siblings, what are your parents like, that sort of thing?" asked Bakura getting the ball rolling on the plan he and Ryou cooked up while Maria was getting Mau.

"I have three older sisters, triplets...and my father...my mother passed away shortly after I was born," Mau said with slight, miniscule hesitations when she mentioned her father.

"Man, It's been so long. Why don't you tell us what they're like," Maria said. "I haven't seen your family in forever, so I forgot," she added sheepishly.

"Okay, my sisters are rather close to each other and… well… have better things on their minds. ...My father is...well like any other father I guess..." Mau said, fidgeting a little.

Bakura looked genuinely interested. "And what's that like? I've lived down here since I was two. I don't remember mine that much…besides what Ryou's told me about him," he said lying on his stomach on Ryou's bed.

"...He takes care of me," said Mau, half much to Bakura's disappointment, but half falling into his and Ryou's plan perfectly.

Ryou knew it was his turn and was well prepared for it. "Mau, I have a feeling that there's more than that about your father. Why else would you avoid it?" he asked in a barely audible voice.

Mau looked at the floor for a few moments. And then looking at her arm, slowly rolled up the sleeve as Maria gave an audible gasp.

O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o

YSF: Gomen friends, I had to leave it at a cliffie. It just entices you to anticipate the next chappie, of what happens, only Schala knows, so read and review, and I'll write faster.

P.S. The phantom of the opera movie totally kicked my butt into gear, so kudos to them. shifty eyes I still think the phantom is ugly… like Bakura as the phantom. (JK Schala. ;)


	8. Revalations and first performance

YSF: Just so you all know, I'm going to be doing somewhat short time frames so I can get to the first performance. I'm alerting you now so no one gets confused when I fast forward to a week or two ahead. Okay? On to the fic!

Mau looked at the floor for a few moments. And then looking at her arm, slowly rolled up the sleeve as Maria gave an audible gasp. On her arm was multiple bruises from what looked like hands. Bakura's eyes widened and Ryou's face paled, shocked that his assumption was correct.

Maria covered her mouth with her hand and stared at Mau's arm with a sick feeling in her stomach. "H-How long has this gone on Mau?" she shakily asked.

Mau let her sleeve fall back down and tears came to her eyes. "...Ever since I can remember," she whispered fearfully.

Maria got up and gave Mau a much needed hug. "Don't cry," she murmured, "We'll help you find a way to make this stop."

"...No," Mau started looking up at the taller girl, "Maria...if he finds out you know...he'll...he'll kill you or anyone else that he finds has found out." Pulling from the hug, Mau turned from the three.

"Not if he doesn't know where we live," Bakura plainly stated, his eyes narrowing into slits in hatred of Mau's father.

"I-I can't take that chance. It...will only be my fault if any of you are hurt or worse..." Mau muttered.

Bakura merely fingered his mask. "It... It probably wouldn't be worse than any pain that I've felt before," he replied softly, trying to control his suppressed rage and sadness at both of their suffering. Ryou noticing his brother's inner conflict, put a reassuring hand on Bakura's shoulder.

Mau, not noticing this exchange, looked at Bakura quite seriously. "Then you don't know him...what he's done…" she said trailing off.

"You're right, I wouldn't know. My pain is different. My pain is from not being loved for most of your life, forced to live alone in the dark of an abandoned river," Bakura admitted.

Mau looked down again. "...I'd prefer being alone than having to listen to him insult me and tell me I am nothing and other things I'd dare not repeat...I'm...not loved...I am hated..." she whimpered starting to cry.

"But not hated by all," Maria reminded her while hugging Mau again.

Mau started sobbing and pulled out of the hug again. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." she said.

Ryou looked panicked and concerned for a second. "About what?" he asked.

"I...I didn't want to lie about it...but...but..." Mau tried to say something, but was cut off as she continued to cry.

Ryou desperately wanted to go comfort her, something he excelled at, but something held him back. "Don't cry, please," he pleaded.

Mau nodded and sincerely tried to stop, making leeway in doing so.

Maria looked at her long-time friend with a concerned look. "Do you want us to stop talking about it?" she asked.

"Please..." Mau said, almost back to normal.

A thick silence settled over the room. No one could think of a conversation that could break the silence long enough until Ryou asked, "Maria, when is the next performance?"

Bakura, at that, looked up interestedly, a smirk in his eyes. "Yes," he said, so pleased, he almost purred, "when is the next one?"

"Hannibal isn't for another three weeks," Maria said after a minute's thought.

Bakura smiled. "I'm pretty sure it's a very old opera-turned-musical," he said.

Mau knew little of the musical, so she tried to think of something that she could join in. "...Umm," unfortunately, was all that she could think of.

"Hey Mau, did you ever meet my cousins? I'm not sure if you did," Maria asked suddenly.

"I don't think I have truthfully..." Mau replied.

"Heh, you'd like them... You too Ryou," Maria said with a smile at the thought of her two dear cousins.

Bakura stuck out his bottom lip in a comical and humorous pout. "And what about me?" he asked.

"To tell the truth, they probably wouldn't like you," Maria replied with a laugh

"What!?"

"Well, who are they? You're leading us on, and we want to know!" Mau laughed.

"My cousins' names are Yami and Valon... If I remember correctly, they are patrons of this theater," Maria replied.

"Really? I didn't know they were your cousins..." Mau said trailing off into thought.

"I could have sworn that I told you about them, but oh well," Maria said with a shrug.

Bakura frowned suddenly and thought. "Does one have spiky hair?" he asked.

"Yeah, Yami... why?" Maria asked slowly in reply

Bakura made a face. "He has no love for music!" Bakura complained, making Ryou laugh.

"And Bakura here is a huge fan of music," Ryou explained still laughing.

Mau shook her head. "I think I remember hearing that about your cousin somewhere…" she said to Maria.

"Well Bakura, as long as you didn't pick a fight with Yami, you and Valon might get along. Valon's whole childhood revolved around music," Maria told Bakura, acknowledging Mau's comment with a nod.

Bakura cocked an eyebrow and then sulked registering the first part. "I'm not that bad," he said defensively.

Ryou finally recovered from laughing. "Yes you are," he said at the same time Mau said, "Of course you're not." Both just stopped, looked at each other and everyone started laughing at their surprised faces.

"So...when will we be meeting them, Maria? Since...that must be what you're getting at," Mau asked once the laughter died down.

"Well, they live out of town, but I know that Valon comes to the performances... I was hoping both would come so you guys can meet them," Maria said, "I haven't seen them for at least two years."

Ryou smiled. "Sounds fun," he said.

"I would like to meet them," Mau agreed, smiling cheerfully as Bakura nodded in agreement.

About a week later, Maria and Schala sat in the empty auditorium eating lunch and chatting about the upcoming musical. Maria trailed off and looked out at the darkened auditorium.

"Something on your mind?" asked Schala once she realized that Maria wasn't paying attention anymore.

Maria jolted out of her thoughts and sheepishly grinned at Schala. "Sorry," she said, "my mind just wandered off for a moment."

Schala wasn't too impressed. "You know," she began, "your mind's been wandering quite a lot lately. Please tell me what's going on?"

Maria sighed and stood. "I won't tell you, but I'll show you," she replied heading farther upstage, Schala closely following, "I must warn you now. I'm taking you to meet two brothers that live in the basements, and the elder brother's face is partly deformed so he wears a half mask to cover it. If you don't want him to get snappish, then I suggest you ignore his mask and treat him like normal."

Schala nodded and watched Maria open a hidden door in the stage floor. Following her down, schala found herself in the basement, somewhere that Seto warned them against for unclear reasons.

"Are you sure about this Maria? I mean, Seto warned us about going down here," Schala said nervously as they walked.

Maria stopped and smiled. "I wouldn't worry about Seto. Besides, we're not going any farther, I stay down here, and we're right outside my room," she explained.

Schala was going to reply, but was stopped with a door opening and an albino poking his head into the hallway saying, "Maria? Is that you and Mau?"

Maria smiled and turned to the albino. "No Ryou," she said, "I brought another friend of mine for you to meet. Is Bakura up here?"

"I am now," Bakura said emerging from the direction that they came from, "Who's this?"

"I'm Schala," Schala said with a smile at Bakura.

"I'm Ryou, and this is my older brother Bakura," Ryou said as an introduction, "Please, come in."

Bakura followed the two girls in and shut the door behind him. "So Schala, what do you do in the theater?" he asked curiously.

"I'm a dancer," she replied.

"We have a regular crew of people as friends, Bakura," Ryou laughed, "One does the lights, one sings, and now one dances."

"I agree," Bakura said with a smile.

At the end of lunch hour, Maria and schala headed back to the practice room, both thinking different thoughts. Maria was particularly amused that Bakura and Schala seemed to like each other as a bit more than friends almost immediately. Ryou had pointed it out to her, and the two watched Schala and Bakura talking while trying very hard to not laugh.

Entering the practice room, Seto motioned Maria over. "Maria, how are you coming along with your voice training?" he asked in a low voice so Téa wouldn't hear them.

"The phantom says that I'm almost ready and that I just need a bit longer, why?" she asked.

Seto rubbed his temples at the mention of the phantom. "Because I may put you in the lead for the musical after Hannibal. I was just wondering on your progress," he said.

"Seto? Do you not like the phantom?" Maria asked.

"He and I have our differences about most talent. I don't agree that he's your teacher, but I must admit that he's the best that there is," Seto explained with a sigh, "Just don't let him boss you around too much okay?"

"Okay Seto, I promise that I won't let Phantom boss me around," Maria promised before heading back to her normal seat to watch practice.

That night, Maria sat waiting for the phantom up on the stage and couldn't help but wonder why there was tension between Seto and Phantom. The phantom never harmed her in any way if you don't count tired and sore throats. Maria was so deep in thought, she didn't notice the phantom emerge from his usual corner of shadows.

"Something on your mind?" he asked, approaching his pupil slowly.

Maria jumped and blushed slightly. "You scared me, Phantom. I didn't hear you," Maria said.

The phantom smiled, his eyes glittering. "Then let's begin. If you want the lead in Hannibal…"

"Wait a second, you said the lead in Hannibal. Téa is getting that role. Seto won't let me have it, even though I badly want it, I'm not good enough yet," Maria protested.

Phantom's eyes flashed angrily. "Téa won't be performing in the lead position if I don't want her to," he growled, making Maria flinch slightly, "I have a way of making Seto see things my way. For now, we will practice so you are good enough. I want to see you sing the songs without looking at the music."

Maria nodded and spent the night singing songs that she figured she would never get a chance to sing in front of an audience.

The next two weeks were a bit of a blur. Maria's daily routine consisted of practice, lunch with Schala and sometimes Mau since she could only come every few days, visit Bakura and Ryou, return to practice, and then at night rehearse with Phantom, or Teacher as Maria had come to call the phantom of the opera by either name. Finally, Maria got a break from the usual.

The morning of the performance, Maria sat sullenly with Mau at the switchboard, watching Téa perform horribly as usual in the dress rehearsal.

"Téa, why can't you hit the right note for once? Do this song again," Seto said irritably.

The song started up again and Maria heard Téa's cue approaching knowing Téa would miss it again. Feeling that she was being watched, Maria looked up and saw a familiar shadow among other shadows in one of the boxes.

"Phantom?" she whispered keeping her eyes on the shadow, knowing it was prone to disappear. The shadow seemed to nod and motion to watch Téa.

Turning, Maria saw Téa about to reach a high note. Instead of a high note, a croak escaped Téa's mouth. Laughter rang out through the stage and the pit.

"Everyone calm down!" Seto snapped, knowing immediately what happened, since the phantom had warned him that it would unless his demands were met. "Pick up after the high note Téa," he said with a sigh since some were still laughing.

Téa tried again, but every time she opened her mouth, she would only croak.

"Do you know what's happening?" Mau asked Maria in between laughs as Téa stormed off the stage.

"The phantom didn't want Téa to perform, so I guess he made her croak…pun intended," she answered, knowing what she had to do.

Seto was not happy. The phantom made Téa temporarily lose her ability to sing, so now they were short a lead. Just as he was about to tell the cast that he had to close the show, a voice cut through what laughter was left.

"Do you want me to sing the lead part Seto?" Everyone stopped laughing and turned towards Maria. She stood there proudly and confidently in the center of the stage and honestly looked to everyone else like she belonged there.

"Do you think you're ready?" Seto asked. Maria nodded and Seto motioned for the pit to turn to a new song. "Since this is your first time singing, I'll audition you. But if I don't deem you ready, know that I'll close the show, no ifs ands or buts about it, understood?" he asked.

Maria nodded and the music started up. It was "Think of Me," a song that she was excellent at. Mau, as a professional touch, dimmed the house lights and focused a remaining light on Maria. Maria smiled at Mau and closing her eyes, started singing.

_Think of me, think of me fondly when we've said good bye._

_Remember me every so often, please promise me you'll try._

_On that day, that not so distant day, when you are far away and free,_

_If you ever find a moment, spare a thought for me._

Seto, hearing Maria sing, thought it was beautiful. Stopping the pit, he looked at Maria's confused face at the music stopping so suddenly and smiled. "I heard all I needed to hear," he explained, "I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we would like you to have the lead part in tonight's performance."

"Thank you," Maria said as Mau and Schala rushed over and hugged her and everyone else cheered at the thought of finally putting on a good production without Téa.

That night, people filed into the grand auditorium talking about a supposed prodigy singer who replaced Téa for the lead. In fact, the only ones who weren't talking about it were two very rich patrons who were entering their box talking about something else who happened to be Valon and Yami.

"Valon, I still don't see why I have to come to these performances. They're always bad and attending gives Téa reason to hunt me down," Yami complained as he entered the box.

Valon laughed slightly and shook his head at his younger brother. "You're a patron. It's only right that you attend a few," Valon explained.

"But it's so dull! I'd rather spend my money elsewhere," Yami grumbled sitting in a seat.

Valon just smiled, remembering what Maria had told him when she had called earlier, and his promise to keep their conversation from Yami till after the show.

Meanwhile, Maria was backstage in the lead's dressing room with Mau and Ryou. "I'm so nervous," she said looking at both of them as Mau finished helping with the makeup.

"You'll do fine," Mau said comfortingly as she adjusted the sling that now held her arm instead of both a sling and a cast.

Ryou smiled and gave Maria a hug and a small kiss on the cheek as Mau looked on and giggled. "I should be heading up to Bakura and my box, and I don't want to jinx you, but good luck," he said as he headed out the door and shut it behind him.

"I think he likes you," Mau teasingly said after the door closed.

"Well he is cute," Maria said distractedly and then covered her mouth in surprise, "I didn't just say that out loud, did I?" she asked Mau.

Mau started laughing and nodded her head as Maria started laughing also, getting over her embarrassment. "Don't worry, I think you two would make a cute couple," she said, making Maria blush, "I should go to the switchboard now, good luck." And with that, Mau left Maria alone.

Maria, knowing that she had some time on her hands, sat at the mirror and just looked at her reflection. Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, Maria smiled and closed her eyes and moments later felt a brush going through her long hair. "Hello Phantom," she said.

"Hello Pupil, Are you ready for this?" the phantom asked.

"Slightly, I'm still a little nervous…like pre-performance jitters," she replied as the phantom clipped her hair back.

"Well, what are your fears?" he asked.

"You," Maria replied easily since this was a daily, well nightly, routine.

"Well, I think now is the time to get rid of that particular fear," the phantom said with a smile.

Maria turned and looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I'm going to show you who I am. I was planning on revealing it to you after the performance, but I have a feeling that you'll have visitors," the phantom said, gently shutting Maria's eyes. "Keep your eyes closed," he whispered stepping backwards. When Maria nodded, he removed his hat and tossed it aside, took out the rubber band holding his snowy white hair back, and switched his full face mask with his usual half mask that he kept in a hidden pocket in his jacket.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Maria asked.

"Of course you can, I'm ready," the phantom said.

Maria opened her eyes and gasped when she saw none other than Bakura standing in front of her. "You mean you're the phantom?"

"Yes, I hope my not revealing my identity for the past month was well worth it. Ryou had one hell of a time keeping a straight face after that first time that he laughed when you told him you met me," Bakura huffed.

Maria laughed and stood up. "It was well worth the surprise," she said hugging Bakura, "I should get to the stage now. Enjoy watching our efforts."

Bakura shook his head and smiled as Maria left. Heading up to the box, he settled next to Ryou as the lights dimmed. Ryou, seeing the half mask on, leaned over and whispered, "I take it you revealed your identity to Maria?"

"Yes," Bakura replied, "She was quite surprised."

Meanwhile, a few boxes down, Yami prepared to cover his ears so he wouldn't hear Téa start singing. Since Yami already knew this musical, he knew where Téa's cue was. As it came, Yami was surprised to not hear Téa, but a beautiful voice that sounded kind of like an angel's voice. Looking over the railing, his crimson eyes widened when he saw who the singer was.

"You never told me Maria was going to perform!" Yami whispered angrily to Valon.

"I just found out today," Valon replied with a smile. To Valon's surprise and delight, Yami actually listened to and paid attention to the whole musical.

After the musical, Maria sat in her dressing room taking her hair out of the clips that Bakura put it in. "That went better than expected," she told Mau.

"I told you that you'd do fine," Mau said helping with the last clip, "In fact, you didn't do well at all, you did great!" Maria stuck her tongue out as a response and Mau couldn't help but laugh. "So are we going to meet them?"

"Well, I wanted to wait for Ryou and Bakura, but I'm not sure if they're even here," Maria replied with a slight frown.

"If who's here?" asked a somewhat deep voice from the door. Maria smiled and rushed to the door where she hugged the person tightly.

"Yami! You came!" she exclaimed as the said cousin hugged her back.

"You sang like an angel tonight," Yami said and then looked up and spotted Mau. "Who's this?" he asked going over and kissing Mau's hand.

Maria tried to stop Yami but it was too late. Mau let out a yelp and jerked her hand away, leaving Yami confused. Mau calmed down and blushed bright red because of her reaction. "I-I'm sorry," she said sheepishly.

"Yami, how many times have I told you to keep your hands to yourself?" Valon asked as he entered and was hugged by Maria.

Yami hung his head slightly. "I apologize," he said looking off to the side.

"Which is a very hard thing for him to do," Maria said.

Valon smiled and rolled his eyes. "I don't believe we met," he said turning to Mau and giving a slight bow, "I am Valon and this is my brother Yami.

Mau smiled, though her face was still tinted. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Mau… I should have warned you before you took my hand, Yami. I can't stand anyone touching me in any way except for select few and that's only because I know them really well," Mau said sheepishly.

"Well, these are my infamous cousins that I told you about," Maria said with a sideways grin at the brothers, "Of course once you get to know them, there's nothing really special about them at all."

Mau nodded in understanding. "I was Maria's neighbor years ago," she said.

Valon suddenly smiled. "I think I remember you now," he replied, "You have three sisters…correct?"

Mau nodded again. "Yes, triplets, probably a year or two younger than you," she said.

"I don't remember them," Yami said slightly bored.

"Yami, it's a wonder that you even remember your own name sometimes," Maria said in an offhand manner.

Yami sulked. "I'm not that bad," he complained, trying to drown out Mau and Valon's laughing.

As they were laughing at Yami's discomfort, Ryou and Bakura were drawing closer to the door. Bakura, hearing unfamiliar laughter, hesitated and hung back a little.

"Bakura? Come on, you have to get over your discomfort sooner or later so you can make up for the 17 years of your life that you missed," Ryou said stopping and turning to face his brother.

"I know," Bakura replied, "It's a lot harder than you think to trust people you've never met before though."

"You gave Maria Mau and Schala a chance. I'm sure if Maria's cousins are anything like her, you'll get to know them easier," Ryou said with a smile, putting a hand on Bakura's shoulder, "Let's go meet them."

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YSF; R and review people!


	9. the Cousins and Playtime

Maria looked over towards the doorway, seeing movement, and grinned when she saw who it was. "Ryou, Bakura, come in," she said.

"Hello, both of you," Mau said with a smile as Ryou entered followed by Bakura, who hesitated slightly before entering.

"Hello," Ryou smiled, making Yami and Valon turn.

"Who are they?" Yami asked Maria.

"They are Ryou and Bakura, two good friends of mine," Maria replied with a smile.

"They are… into theater too," Mau added.

"Really, that's interesting to say the least," Valon said raising an eyebrow, "My name is Valon, and this is my brother Yami."

Yami didn't respond but was gazing intently at Bakura's mask. "What's with the mask?" he asked.

Bakura jerked as though he had been slapped and glared at Yami. "Why do you care?" he growled, only slightly aware of Ryou holding him back.

"Shut up about his mask Yami. Bakura's a bit…touchy on the subject of it," Maria scolded. Yami nodded sullenly.

"Wasn't Maria excellent tonight?" Mau asked trying to change the subject.

"Maria had called me earlier today and asked me to keep it a secret from Yami," Valon admitted, "But she sang wonderfully."

"She's been working hard, I think," Ryou said with a laugh.

"Oh no, not at all. I just practice every night," Maria replied sarcastically. "Plus the fact that I have a superb trainer," she continued with a sideways glance at Bakura.

Yami looked towards the door suddenly. "Téa isn't here, is she?" he asked with a shudder as the group heard footsteps pass.

Valon rolled his eyes. "Téa has this gigantic crush on Yami, but Yami doesn't return the feelings," he explained.

"Aww, but I think you two would make the cutest couple," Maria replied teasingly. Her words had an immediate effect. Yami blanched, Bakura and Ryou immediately started laughing their heads off, Valon was fighting to keep his composure, and Mau wasn't sure what to think.

"Anyway," Yami said quickly trying to keep himself from staying too long in the circle of humiliation, "shall we go anywhere to celebrate our diva's success at accomplishing her dream?"

"Let me guess, dinner and dancing at yours and Valon's favorite restaurant?" Maria replied nodding enthusiastically.

"But of course. Do you think we'd change our tradition for a mere success?" Valon teased.

"Which restaurant?" Mau asked curiously. She figured that if it was close, her father would be willing to let her go.

"Umm, I'm positive it's Salvador's," Yami said after a moment's thought.

"Oh," Mau said, realizing that the restaurant was farther away, "I should be going home. It's getting late."

"It's not that late, come have dinner with us!" Yami urged while Ryou and Bakura merely exchanged glances, knowing at once why Mau was hesitant.

"I don't know...m-my father is expecting me to be home tonight promptly..." Mau replied starting to get nervous. Ryou reached out and tentatively took her hand ever so lightly and comfortingly. Mau shivered and looked at Ryou who softly smiled, causing Mau to relax a bit.

Yami started to reply, but was cut off by Maria putting a hand over his mouth. "All right Mau," she said with a cheerful smile, "see you tomorrow?"

Mau nodded and with a small bow, quickly took her leave. Not long after her footsteps faded away, another set was heard in the hall. Bakura opened the door curiously to see who it was and smiled. "Hello Schala," he said while letting her in.

"Hi!" Schala said and looked around. "Who're your friends?"

"Actually, these two are my cousins. Schala, this is Valon and Yami."

Schala nodded and looked closer. "Hey," she said, "I know you two. Doesn't Téa have a crush on you Yami?"

Yami shuddered once again, causing Bakura to smirk, humoring himself at the patron's discomfort. "I don't want that slut anywhere near me," he spat.

"Aww," Schala teased, "but I'm sure she'd like to make you number 52 on her list."

"She has a list?" Bakura and Yami asked at the same time.

"If she did, with her looks, it probably wouldn't be that high," Maria pointed out with a snort.

"I'm sure this is a fascinating topic, but I suggest that we go eat before it gets too late. Would you like to go with us Miss Schala?" Valon asked.

"I would love to," Schala replied. With that, the group left for dinner.

The next morning finds Maria, Mau, Bakura, and Ryou sitting on the stage, breakfast foods in the middle of the circle. "I had so much fun last night," Maria said tiredly, taking a bite of a doughnut.

Mau smiled at her friend's uncharacteristic lethargicness. "I'm glad you had fun. I only wish that I could have come with you guys.

"Maybe if you asked Helar, he'd let you go next time," Ryou suggested. Mau just replied with a small sigh.

"I actually enjoyed myself," Bakura said, "The only thing I didn't like was the stares that I got."

"Well naturally," Maria replied.

"I'm sorry they stared at you like that," Mau put in.

Bakura smiled sincerely at his friend. "It's quite alright, I got used to it surprisingly fast," he said. Mau nodded, still a little concerned though. Smirking suddenly, Bakura laughed, "You should have seen Maria and Ryou dancing though, they looked quite cute together."

While Ryou blushed slightly and looked away, Maria choked on her juice with a splutter. Mau couldn't help but laugh at Bakura's statement and at Maria's reaction.

"I thought you weren't going to tease us about it!" Maria exclaimed, "You promised!"

"I wasn't teasing," Bakura said defensively, "I was merely commenting."

Ryou turned, still a little red. "It sounded awfully close to teasing," he replied quietly.

Bakura grinned, "Interpret it as you will little brother."

Mau laughed and then changed the subject. "Maria," she began, "When is the next performance?"

Maria looked thoughtful. "I don't know. Seto cancelled practice for two days as a result of an excellent performance," she paused, "I'm a little edgy though."

Ryou tipped his head and smiled cheerfully. "You don't really need to feel edgy, Maria. Relax one of the days," he said.

"It's not that…" Maria trailed off and bit her lip.

"Go on," Mau urged gently.

"Well, this may sound stupid, but I'm worried that Téa will try to put me out of commission."

Bakura frowned. "That could be an issue," he admitted still frowning.

Mau looked confused. "But I thought Seto likes your voice more than Téa's," she said slowly.

"That's why Téa will try to put Maria out of commission. If Maria can't sing, Téa will immediately return to the spotlight," Ryou explained, which earned an understanding nod from Mau.

"Téa will do anything to get her way," Bakura added.

"Well, if we stay with Maria, Téa will have no chance to do anything and then give up," Mau pointed out as the auditorium doors opened.

"You don't know Téa, Mau," Yami said after closing the door behind him and Valon, "I've tried everything…"

"…short of killing her," Valon interrupted.

"Yeah, that," Yami conceded and the continued, "to make her uninterested in me."

Maria laughed. "He even told her that he wasn't straight, which is a lie," she added.

Yami just shrugged. "It got me some peace and quiet for about an hour."

"What haven't you tried?" Mau asked with a giggle.

"Isn't it obvious? The only thing he hasn't tried is a Catholic Exorcism," Valon laughed, causing Ryou to laugh.

"I bet if you asked him nicely, the phantom would help…for a price."

Yami looked at Bakura and a dark look crossed his face. "Phantom? There's no such thing. Phantoms are just childhood myths," Yami said with a hint of annoyance.

Bakura held down a growl and settled for glaring, seeing Ryou's alarmed look.

"Well, your cousin believes in the phantom," Bakura hissed, his anger evident. Yami noticed the anger and decided to back down for now, and ask Maria about her friend's behavior later.

Maria faltered slightly under a disbelieving glare then sent her way by Yami. "Can you tell that lack of superstition runs in the family except for Valon and now myself?" she asked with a nervous laugh.

"I see that," Ryou replied while Mau nodded.

Valon tried to lighten the mood. "Would that make me the black sheep of the family?" he asked with a grin expecting Yami's usual, immediate response.

"No, you're the purple sheep of the family," Yami returned unexpectedly.

Valon blinked and then smiled again. "That's right, and you must be the porcupine of the family," he shot back.

Everyone laughed, and then grew silent, having nothing to talk about for long enough.

"I know," Maria said suddenly, "how would you like to meet my teacher?"

"I would be thrilled to meet him," Valon replied.

"I don't care," Yami added.

"You don't care about anything," Maria accused.

"It's not that I don't care, I just don't want to be in the general vicinity as Mask-boy over there for extended amounts of time."

Bakura growled low in his throat and would have lunged for Yami, if Ryou and Maria didn't stop him.

"Why is that?" Ryou asked as he calmed his brother down, who still had a murderous look in his eye.

Valon put his hand on his forehead, shaking his head a little in shame for his brother's rudeness.

Bakura was calm enough to speak now. "We... had a disagreement last night," he said toying with his snowy locks.

"May I inquire as to what it was about?" Valon asked.

Yami and Bakura both rounded on him. "No," they said at the same time.

Valon nervously laughed. "Okay...okay."

Maria and Mau merely sweatdropped. "For not liking each other, they sure think alike," Maria commented.

"It seems so...well, Bakura isn't a bad person so I don't really know what the problem is," Mau agreed and then looked at Yami. "It's not because he's different, is it?"

"He... doesn't really take quickly to those who are different, and I don't mean by hair or eye color," Valon answered quietly, seeing Yami not about to answer.

Mau looked down. "...I'm different from other people," she said quietly.

Maria looked at Ryou and they both nodded in agreement that this conversation went on for long enough. "Bakura," she started, "mind getting Teacher for me since he only comes to me at night and you know where he lives?"

Bakura looked at her and smiled. "As you wish. After I get him though, I'm going to go find Seto and bug him," he answered and left with a short bow.

"Who's your teacher Maria?" Mau asked.

"Well, it's none other than the phantom," she replied.

Yami heard this exchange and cocked an eyebrow but said nothing. After a few minutes, Phantom appeared on the catwalk, finished securing his full-face mask, and grinned at the perfect opportunity to scare the group, seeing as no one noticed him up there.

Maria was just about to take another doughnut, when an insane laugh echoed throughout the auditorium, making her flesh crawl even though she knew who it was. Mau cowered and not caring about her fear, instinctively darted to Ryou, who closed his arms protectively around her shivering form.

"I heard some people wanted to meet me?" came the echoing voice that matched the laugh.

Maria turned towards the catwalk. "Teacher," she called, "My cousins wish to meet you!"

Phantom grinned and then gracefully vaulted himself over the catwalk railing to land soundlessly, crouched on the stage.

Valon was mildly surprised. "Good morning...erm...what title would you like me to refer to you?" he asked

Phantom merely blinked at such proper vocabulary. "One," he said dryly, "If you're asking what I would like you to call me, you can call me Phantom." He paused and smirked, seeing Valon look slightly miffed and Ryou, Mau, Yami, and Maria trying to hold back their laughter. "And secondly," Phantom continued, pulling down the brim of his hat a little farther in a slightly mocking gesture, "There's no need to use such vocabulary during an informal meeting such as this, _patron_"

Yami, unable to take seeing his normally serious and strong-willed brother falter under Phantom's piercing stare, basically jumped to his defense. "And you want us to believe that you're actually a phantom? There's no such thing!" he replied indignantly.

Phantom let slip a low growl and an eerie light reflected in his eyes. "If I'm not a phantom," he started in a dangerously smooth voice, which Mau was inclined to recognize but couldn't place where. "Then how do I do this?" he finished from suddenly behind Yami, close enough to breathe down the younger Patron's neck.

Yami spun around, but Phantom had moved again soundlessly. "H-How are you doing this?" he demanded turning to find Phantom directly behind him once more.

Phantom enjoyed this immensely. "Perhaps," he mocked stepping towards Yami, who took a stepped backwards for each of Phantom's steps, "There is a such thing as a phantom, but you're too bull-headed to believe that, now are you."

"Enough Phantom," Ryou called out in a surprisingly firm voice. Maria looked at Ryou in wonder and then remembered that Bakura was overstepping his boundaries the two had set.

Phantom looked over at his brother, grinned, and disappeared only to immediately reappear a second later in an obedient kneel behind Ryou. Ryou scowled at him and then turned back towards the group.

"Forgive Phantom, it's not wise to get him mad at you," Ryou said glaring at Phantom over his shoulder. Phantom just smirked in a sarcastic way and bowed his head. "Yes, master," he said in the same silkily dangerous voice that he used to scare Yami with.

Even Maria looked confused, so Ryou elaborated. "Me and Bakura saved the phantom, so he's technically our humble servant with a bad attitude."

Valon nodded. "Well, Phantom, I must thank you for bringing out my cousin's full potential."

Phantom laughed lightly. "Full potential? She hasn't reached that yet. Your cousin still has room for perfection. I aim to pull that perfection out."

"How do you know that Maria's not perfect already?" Yami asked trying to be polite.

Phantom snorted. "Maria is basically the reincarnation of Christine Daaé, is she not?" he asked. Yami nodded and Phantom continued, "Then it can be assumed that she has just a beautiful voice as Christine, and she's not there yet."

Valon and Yami stayed only a little longer before they left for home. After they left, Phantom, forgetting Mau was there, dropped his fake voice/accent. "Your cousin is a nasty little bugger, isn't he?" he asked with a laugh.

Mau gasped lightly. "B-Bakura?" she asked fearfully.

Bakura smacked himself on the forehead with a hand for being so forgetful. Turning after he finished swapping his masks, he smiled at Mau. "I didn't mean to do that," he said sheepishly taking off his hat and removing the rubber band in his hair.

Mau smiled in response. "I was terrified of you. You have no idea how bad I was shaking when you first appeared," she gently scolded.

"So what's this about Phantom obeying Ryou?" Maria asked skeptically.

"It's something that we cooked up once for when we're seen together," Ryou explained with a light laugh, "It's even more interesting when Bakura and Phantom are seen together."

Bakura snorted. "That's when Ryou's superior acting skills come into play. Ryou, why don't you give them a demonstration," Bakura suggested tossing his hat, cloak, and mask to his little brother.

Turning his back to the girls, Ryou rubber banded his hair back and slid the full-face mask on. Brushing his bangs under the hat, Ryou finished the ensemble by putting on the cloak over the ponytail. "Hello girls," Ryou said turning around, imitating Phantom's voice and glittering eyes perfectly, and walking towards them with the same air that Phantom had.

Maria and Mau shrieked in delight, clapping while Ryou continued. "I," Ryou continued drawing himself up straight, "am the self-centered, egotistical Phantom of the Opera who- oof!"

Bakura sat up from where he had tackled Ryou and took back his items. "That's quite enough," he growled while Maria and Mau continued to laugh.

"I was only stating facts," Ryou replied sweetly and was forced to roll out of the way as Bakura tried to cuff him across the head. Getting up, Ryou dashed off, Bakura not far behind him. Maria and Mau couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Ryou leaping seats and reversing directions, trying to keep away from Bakura. Unfortunately, Bakura used his phantom ability and appeared about two inches from Ryou, causing the younger brother to plow straight into him.

Both tumbled to the floor, and just before Ryou could scramble to his feet and run off, he felt a hand close over his wrist. Looking up, Ryou blinked curiously at Maria. "What…" he started to ask before he saw the laugh in Maria's eyes and felt arms around his waist pulling him back down. "No fair!" he cried as Bakura pinned him and started tickling his younger brother.

After a few minute of 'torture,' Bakura stopped and let Ryou catch his breath, still pinning him. "Learn your lesson?" Bakura asked. Ryou nodded and Bakura let him up.

"I must go see Seto about something, so I'll meet up with you three later," Bakura said before transporting himself onto the stage and switching back to phantom garb before disappearing.

Seto sat in his office looking at his list of actors and singers, wondering how he got himself into this mess. Since he was the technical owner, he had to make the decision of which singer was going to sing as the lead. There were two choices, and both had drastic consequences. The first was that he could cast Maria as the lead, but then Téa would mutiny and possibly harm Maria. The other option would be to cast Téa in the lead role. However, if he chose that, he'd have Bakura on his ass.

"Good, I caught you at an opportune moment," came a voice, startling Seto out of his thoughts. Looking up into a corner, Seto saw glittering brown eyes staring at him from the darkness.

"What do you want Phantom, or should I say, Bakura?" Seto demanded.

Bakura bit back a growl. "Look," he snapped, "I came to see that my latest pupil gets the lead."

"You know I can't just hand her the lead. I don't want a mutiny on my hands," Seto protested as Bakura sat in the chair across from him on the other side of the desk.

"Would you rather I cause something devastating?" came the replying hiss, causing Seto to shrink backwards.

"No, you won't. Téa will get the lead in the musical that we'll be starting in two days. However, Maria will get the musical after this new one. I need to keep the peace here Bakura, even though I want to give Maria all of the leads," Seto declared, steeling himself for the explosive outburst that was bound to, and usually did, follow.

"Do you honestly think I'd buy that bullshit?" Bakura demanded.

"Listen to me Bakura!" Seto pressed, leaning over the desk and grabbing Bakura's arm so the phantom wouldn't turn away, "I know what Téa is capable of. She'll harm Maria. You don't want that, do you?"

Seto's words had an immediate effect on Bakura. The fire died in his eyes and his skin paled to the same color as his mask. "No," he murmured sliding his hat off and bowing his head, switched his mask.

Seto's voice gentled slightly. "Then trust me, I'll tell Téa, and you tell Maria. It'll work out, I promise. But before you go, I have a favor to ask you."

"And what would that be?" Bakura asked softly, raising his head.

"This musical is going to involve quite a lot of acting, so I was wondering if Ryou would like to have the lead male part since he is exactly what I'm looking for. He's both an excellent singer and excellent actor."

"I'll tell him," Bakura agreed and as Seto bent his head to fill the cast list, he saw Bakura disappear out of the top of his vision.

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Yay, it's actually finished! Sry 4 taking so long, heat fried my brain. Read and review please!


	10. Tea strikes back

"Listen to me Bakura!" Seto pressed, leaning over the desk and grabbing Bakura's arm so the phantom wouldn't turn away, "I know what Téa is capable of. She'll harm Maria. You don't want that, do you?"

Seto's words had an immediate effect on Bakura. The fire died in his eyes and his skin paled to the same color as his mask. "No," he murmured sliding his hat off and bowing his head, switched his mask.

Seto's voice gentled slightly. "Then trust me, I'll tell Téa, and you tell Maria. It'll work out, I promise. But before you go, I have a favor to ask you."

"And what would that be?" Bakura asked softly, raising his head.

"This musical is going to involve quite a lot of acting, so I was wondering if Ryou would like to have the lead male part since he is exactly what I'm looking for. He's both an excellent singer and excellent actor."

"I'll tell him," Bakura agreed and as Seto bent his head to fill the cast list, he saw Bakura disappear out of the top of his vision after receiving the script and parts for both Maria and Ryou.

"Bakura! What's wrong?" Ryou asked, getting up from his bed and going over to his brother as he staggered into the room.

"Hmm?" Bakura asked as Ryou pulled off his cloak and jacket, "Oh, it's nothing. Seto wants you to play the lead male in this upcoming musical."

"Liar, it's not nothing, what's wrong? You seem almost scared," Ryou said, running his fingers through Bakura's hair as the two sat on the bed.

"Is Maria around?"

"No, she and Mau went out, probably shopping. Been gone for a while…why?" Ryou asked.

"She's not getting the lead in the musical. I tried to bully Seto into giving her the lead, but he told me that Téa would possibly harm her. I had to back off," Bakura explained.

Ryou frowned in thought. "But she told me that Seto was going to put her as the lead in this one," he murmured.

"He probably wasn't expecting Téa to croak in the last one," Bakura snorted at the memory.

"Maria's going to be severely disappointed. I wish there was some way to be able to cheer her up after she receives the news," Ryou said softly.

Bakura turned and smirked at Ryou. "Oh but I think there is, Little Brother," he said, the smirk turning into a devilish smile.

Ryou looked at him and his expression turned into one of mortification. "I can't do that! You know I'll just trip over my own words. I'm too shy!" Ryou exclaimed, burying his face in his hands to hide the deep blush.

"You're making it sound like it's brain surgery. You two like each other. It's so obvious!" Bakura exclaimed in an exasperated manner.

"Who're you to talk? You never asked anyone out either," Ryou shot back, glaring at Bakura.

"At least I'm not a shy little coward," Bakura growled as he started fading away, "I'm going to go compose."

Ryou stared at the spot that Bakura just left and clenched his hands. "I'm not a shy little coward. I'll show you just how much guts I have!" Ryou growled softly, his eyes uncharacteristically flashing.

"What are you mumbling about?" Maria asked, appearing in the doorway, Mau right behind her, peering curiously over the taller girl's shoulder.

Ryou started and put on his usual cheery expression. "It's nothing, Bakura just ticked me off for a moment, that's all," he explained in an offhand manner.

"Where is Bakura? We came back so I could say goodbye to you guys because I have to go home now," Mau piped up.

"He's in his home composing. You could always take the elevator to see him," Ryou said.

"No, I don't want to be late. Tell him for me, okay?" Mau said with a shake of her head as she turned and crashed right into Bakura.

"You two don't realize just how loud you talk, do you?" he asked lightly, helping Mau up.

"I'm sure we weren't that loud," Maria said with an eye roll.

Bakura flashed a toothy grin. "You're right," he admitted, "I was about two floors down."

"Well, I have to go home now. I'll see you tomorrow hopefully," Mau said with a smile before heading back to the stage entrance.

Maria watched her go, and then turned to Bakura. "Why were you two floors down?" she asked.

"Would you like to see?" Bakura asked, holding out a hand. Maria nodded and took it. "Ryou, do you want to come?" Bakura asked.

"…Sure," Ryou answered, grabbing tight to Bakura's other hand.

"Why are we holding onto each other?" Maria asked.

"Bakura's going to teleport us," Ryou explained.

"Don't let go," Bakura warned before concentrating. Sure he had teleported Ryou with him before, but he had never teleported a third person. Feeling weightless and then solid, Bakura opened his eyes and looked around. On his right was Ryou, and on his left was Maria.

"You two can open your eyes now," Bakura said softly. Both opened their eyes and gasped in awe. They were standing in a large room, decorated in lush cushions and fabric draped over everything hanging.

"This place is beautiful," Maria breathed.

"The original phantom had decorated this place similarly. When I stumbled upon this room, it was all faded. I managed to salvage some fabric to restore some of it. It's my favorite spot to think in," Bakura explained.

Ryou slipped his hand out of Bakura's and looked around. Going to a wardrobe, Ryou opened the doors and gasped. The phantom outfit was there, hanging nicely in the wardrobe with the hat and shoes lying on the shelf above.

"Bakura, is this where you store your phantom stuff?" Maria asked, looking up at the older boy.

Letting go of Maria's hand, Bakura went to a smaller wardrobe and opening it, looked at the shelves of masks. "Yes," he said softly, pulling out a red full-face mask, "I also keep all of my masks in here."

"How do you look in some of them?" Ryou asked. "You've only ever brought the silver one up besides your two usual ones."

"Some of them…let's just say that our great-great-grandfather had a bit of a festive streak in him," Bakura replied, slipping on a sparkly blue full face mask over his half mask and turned around.

Maria and Ryou howled in laughter as Bakura showed off the festive and silly ones one by one. Both liked the one that looked like a masquerade mask since it had long feathers on both sides.

"I take it you two found a favorite," Bakura stated dryly, sliding that mask off so he only had his half mask on which he kept on underneath the other masks. "Both of you feel free to try some on, for I'm going home to compose right now. There's a key on the table for each of you so you can get in and out when you please," Bakura said with a gesture to a table before fading away.

Maria immediately stood and looked at the vast assortment of masks. "I can't believe it, all of these are homemade," she breathed, handling one carefully.

"And apparently, Bakura never wore most of them," Ryou answered, coming up and swiping a thick layer of dust off of one, "I know! Let's clean this place up!"

Maria went to where there was a chest and opened it up. Inside was a lot of fabric. "Hey look," she said, pulling one out, "It's the original hangings! You can still see the original color in the creases, so we can truly replace these and Bakura's mix-matched replacements!"

Ryou nodded, suddenly excited. "We can start cleaning and then we'll start restoring the room," he replied.

That evening, Bakura waited for Ryou and Maria. He hadn't returned to his thinking room for his phantom outfit because he didn't need it. Right now, he was trying to brainstorm on how he was going to break the bad news gently to her. Sitting at the piano, he softly started playing a song that his grandfather had taught him.

"That was beautiful," Bakura heard Maria say as she and Ryou came onto the stage.

"Thanks, It's actually quite easy to learn. I can teach you it someday," Bakura replied, closing the piano and standing. "Maria, I…I have bad news."

"What is it?" Maria asked, noticing that Bakura and Ryou wore the same expression.

"Well, when I went to see Seto earlier, he…he refused to give you the lead role," Bakura said heavily.

Maria was quiet and then, not saying anything, turned and ran off backstage to the trapdoor. Ryou and Bakura looked at each other, at a loss of what to do.

"Your turn," Bakura said before disappearing. Ryou sighed and going down the trap door, headed to Maria's room. Seeing the door open, Ryou continued to the second floor and pressed his ear to the newly dubbed 'phantom room.' Hearing nothing, Ryou continued in his search, working his way farther and farther down until he reached the costume room where Maria and Mau had met Bakura for the first time. As he passed it, Ryou heard a sniff come from the room.

"Maria?" Ryou called softly, entering the room. Hearing another sniff come from a rack of costumes, Ryou slowly shifted through the costumes until he felt Maria huddled in a corner.

"Are you okay?" Ryou asked, sitting next to Maria and pulling her into his lap.

"Why would Seto give that, that horrible slut the lead role?" Maria managed to get out between sobs.

"Seto needs to keep the peace between you two. You had the last musical, so he figured that it was only fair that Téa should get this one," Ryou speculated.

"But he promised me I'd get this," Maria protested, breaking into fresh sobs and buried her face in his shirt.

Ryou just calmly and gently shushed Maria and rocked her for a few minutes. Looking down, Ryou, saw in the dark, that Maria was still crying, so doing the first thing that came to his mind, Ryou lifted Maria's face up to look at him and then bowing his own head, kissed the tears away from her eyes.

Maria pulled away shocked. "Ryou, what are you doing?" she asked, so shocked, that she stopped crying.

Ryou tipped his head further and rested it against Maria's forehead as she sat up straighter, straddling his waist. "I like you Maria," Ryou murmured, "Actually, not just like, I think I love you."

"Do you really mean that?" Maria asked. When Ryou nodded, too shy to meet her gaze, Maria smiled and shyly kissed Ryou on the lips. "Well, if you mean it, then so do I," she murmured after they broke the kiss.

Ryou smiled and cradled Maria close once more. He knew she was too comfortable to move and so was he. Closing his eyes, Ryou leaned back against the wall and decided to take a short nap.

…

"Ryou, hey Ryou, wake up," a soft voice called, drawing Ryou out of his slumber.

Ryou stirred and opened his eyes. "Where are we?" he asked groggily after recognizing Maria sitting next to him.

"On the floor behind a rack of costumes in the one costume room on one of the lower basement levels. We fell asleep," Maria said with a light giggle at her own vagueness.

"No wonder why my back is stiff," Ryou grumbled before twisting and feeling cracks go all of the way up his spine when he twisted both ways. "What time is it?" he wondered, consulting his watch and hitting the little light to illuminate the face.

"What does the watch say?" Maria asked.

Ryou looked into the dark room towards Maria's voice. "My watch is telling me that it's morning," he answered simply.

Maria nodded and cuddled to Ryou again. "Did the door shut all of the way?" Maria asked suddenly.

"I don't know, why?" Ryou asked.

Maria grimaced, and then remembered that Ryou couldn't see her in the dark. "I noticed that when I pushed the door closed last night, this side of the door didn't have a handle. My guess is that it fell off some time ago because there's a hole for it," she said with a nervous laugh.

Ryou's eyes widened and crawling past Maria, stood and went to the door. There was a pause and then, "Maria? There isn't even a hole for a door handle. That was a knot."

"What are you saying?" Maria asked, standing and making her way to Ryou, grabbing his hand as she found him.

Ryou looked toward her. "We're locked in," he said simply.

"Can't we push it open?" Maria asked.

"About that, don't you remember when I showed you and Mau this room? I pushed it open from the outside. We're trapped in here."

Maria was silent. "Do you think Bakura would hear us if we yelled?"

Ryou bit his lip in thought. "Perhaps, he's usually still asleep though," Ryou murmured before tossing back his head. "BAKURA!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Now we wait?" Maria asked.

"Well, we keep yelling about every 30 seconds. That way Bakura can locate us," Ryou planned. Maria nodded and took her turn yelling.

Several levels below, Bakura was startled out of his sleep. He thought that he heard his name being called. Brushing his bangs out of his face, Bakura listened and sure enough heard Maria's voice calling his name. Sighing and reaching for his nightstand, Bakura grabbed his mask and slid it on with a yawn. Fading to the bottom level of the basement, Bakura heard Ryou's and Maria's voices clearly without the disturbance of echoes created by the river.

"Ryou? Ryou what are you yelling about?" Bakura called. The interval yelling stopped and Bakura heard Ryou.

"Bakura! We're locked in a room! Get us out!" Ryou called

"There's a lot of rooms!" Bakura yelled back, heading to the next level because he knew by the volume of the shout that Ryou was a few levels up.

"We're in the room where you first met Maria and Mau!" Ryou replied.

Bakura sighed and jogged up the stairs to that level. "I can't fade into there. I have no idea where you two are, nor where the items in the room are. I'll hurt either one of you two, or myself," Bakura said once he reached the room.

There was a sigh, and then Maria asked, "Can you just open the door for us then?"

Bakura grabbed the handle, and just as he pushed the little lever, the door handle came off. "Uh oh."

"Uh oh what?" Ryou demanded.

"The door handle came off on this side. Stand back, I'm going to try to kick it open," Bakura ordered. Once Ryou called that they were clear, Bakura kicked the door as hard as he could. It didn't budge.

"Now what?" Maria asked as Bakura swore out loud.

Bakura leaned against the wall and thought hard. As far as he and Ryou knew, only Bakura could fade. But then again, there had never been siblings for any of their ancestors. "I wonder," Bakura said, "Ryou, do you think you could fade?"

"Fade?" Ryou echoed, "I've never tried it, but didn't you say only the phantom has that ability?"

"Well, none of our ancestors had any siblings. You might be able to fade," Bakura pointed out.

"How do I fade?" Ryou asked.

"You have to think of exactly where you want to fade. Picture it in your mind as clear as you can and concentrate on that and only that," Bakura instructed, "Try doing it by yourself. I can get Maria after you're out."

Ryou murmured an assent and fell silent. Bakura waited and after a second heard Maria cry out in surprise.

"Ryou? Ryou where are you?" Maria asked frantically. First she had felt his shirt against her arm, and then a second later, the feeling had vanished.

Bakura, hearing this, turned and caught Ryou as he appeared and collapsed. "He's right here Maria, he just used his energy up by fading," Bakura reassured before setting Ryou down and fading into the room.

Maria felt a hand on her shoulder and shrieked. "Whoa, it's just me," Bakura said gently.

"Don't do that again," Maria growled. Bakura just chuckled and scooping his prodigy up, faded back into the hallway. Once Bakura let Maria go, she immediately went to Ryou. "Ryou, are you okay?" Maria asked, kneeling down next to him.

Ryou's eyes fluttered open. "I'll be fine," he replied, sitting up.

"Come on you two, now that I'm up, let's eat breakfast," Bakura said, leading the way back to his house. Once Bakura looked back and smiled to himself when he saw Maria and Ryou walking hand in hand.

…

A few weeks later, it seemed that Maria had finally accepted the fact that she wasn't getting this lead, and was settling nicely into her relationship with Ryou. Unfortunately, her happiness was about to be ripped at the seams, to be replaced with jealousy and hurt.

One day at practice, Maria was watching Ryou recite his lines to Téa, as Maria laughed silently at the humor of the lines. Téa was replying with her own lines while looking at her script when the choreographer cut in and started giving them instructions on their actions. As the section started up again, Maria's mouth dropped open as Téa kissed Ryou! Sure she knew about the kiss, but Téa seemed to be making more out of the kiss. Téa, seeing Maria's expression, just smirked wickedly as she pulled away from Ryou and continued her lines.

Ignoring the smirk, Maria turned away and occupied herself with learning her own lines. During lunch, Maria and Ryou were sitting on the stage talking quietly while eating, when Téa walked up to them.

"Ryou, I was wondering if you could help me go over my lines. I'm afraid I don't know them very well," she asked sweetly in a flirtatious tone.

Ryou swallowed what he had been chewing and glanced over at Maria to see a murderous glare in her eyes. "I don't know," he said slowly, "Can't we do it when I'm done eating?"

"Oh no!" Téa insisted urgently, "I only have now to practice them! I'm going to be busy with other things all afternoon."

Ryou finished his sandwich and shooting an apologetic look at Maria, stood and walked off with Téa, the latter of the two shooting a triumphant look at Maria.

Maria swallowed, trying to get a sick feeling out of her stomach and slipping away to her room, put the remaining food away.

Over the next week, Téa kept barging into the time when Maria and Ryou were together, the two of them spending less and less time together. Maria wasn't stupid or blind. She could tell that Téa was trying to steal Ryou away just to get to her.

After going to Seto and telling him that she wasn't feeling well, Maria left practice and went down into the basement. Winding her way blindly downwards, Maria found herself next to the river and started running towards Bakura's house, where she could hear music emitting from it.

Bakura paused his playing and stretched and flexed his fingers. Sure he loved playing the piano, but it was really tiring. Jumping when he heard a knock on his door, Bakura wondered who it was. Mau, Ryou, and Maria should be at practice right now. Going to the door and opening it, he certainly wasn't expecting Maria to rush into his arms on the verge of crying.

"Maria? What's wrong? Why aren't you at practice?" Bakura asked, guiding Maria to the couch and then sitting next to her.

Maria looked at Bakura and told him everything that happened over the past few days. "The worst part is that Ryou doesn't even try to stop her from pulling us apart," Maria sniffed as Bakura wiped away her tears gently and pulled her into a hug.

Bakura sighed and took Maria into his room and laid her down on the bed. "Get some rest. All of this stress has been keeping you from sleeping, right?" he asked. When Maria nodded, Bakura sat in a chair next to the bed and softly sang Maria into a peaceful slumber.

Going back to the piano, Bakura just sat and processed what Maria told him. With a growl, Bakura knew he'd have to talk to Ryou about this, because he had thought Ryou knew better than to do what he was doing.

…

At the end of the day, Ryou looked around for Maria and frowning, asked Seto where she was. Hearing that she had left earlier because she wasn't feeling well, Ryou went down to the basement and looked into Maria's room. Seeing that she wasn't there, Ryou looked into his own room and then faded down to Bakura's house. Entering Bakura's house, Ryou flinched when he came face to face with a very ticked off Bakura.

"Ryou," Bakura hissed, "We need to talk… now."

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I'm getting really slow. Please forgive me and tell me how it was.


	11. second performance

Entering Bakura's house, Ryou flinched when he came face to face with a very ticked off Bakura.

"Ryou," Bakura hissed, "We need to talk… now."

Ryou gulped and followed Bakura to the river's edge, where Bakura stopped, his back to Ryou. "Bakura?" Ryou asked meekly.

Bakura whirled around and glared at Ryou. "What. Were. You Thinking?" he snarled, causing Ryou to flinch.

"What are you talking about?" Ryou stammered.

Bakura grabbed his own hair and pulled on it in an attempt to vent. "Maria is in my room, heartbroken!" Bakura hissed, his voice going warningly low.

"What's wrong? Is Maria okay? What do you mean by 'heartbroken?" Ryou asked getting slightly nervous.

"When Maria left practice today, she ran to me. What is this I hear about you spending time with _Téa_?" Bakura asked, spitting out the name with distaste.

"Téa wanted me to help her learn her lines," Ryou stammered again.

Bakura got right into Ryou's face so that they were nose to nose. "Bullshit," Bakura hissed, "I went and watched practice for a while to see for myself. Didn't you notice that Téa was slowly taking away more and more of the time you had with Maria?"

Ryou drew back from Bakura, confused. "You mean she's after my affection? I thought that her heart was for Yami only," he murmured.

"You forget, that slut is very conniving. Why do you think she's stealing you away from Maria?" Bakura asked, no longer furious, just pissed off.

Ryou thought about it before hitting himself in the head. "Duh, Téa and Maria are rivals, and she obviously is trying to affect Maria by going through me since she's obviously realized we're together."

"So what are you going to do about it besides learning to say no?" Bakura asked with a nod.

"I'm going to apologize to Maria first, then I'll deal with Téa," Ryou said, looking at Bakura for approval. Bakura nodded and followed Ryou back to his house, remaining in the living room as Ryou went into Bakura's room.

Entering the room, Ryou sighed softly at seeing Maria curled up asleep, her eyes scrunched up as if to keep bad dreams away. Going over to her, Ryou brushed her hair away from her face and kissed her tenderly. Maria stirred and Ryou saw in the darkness Maria's eyes open sleepily.

Maria looked to see what woke her up. Seeing only a silhouette, Maria squinted to see better. "Bakura?" she murmured.

"No," the figure softly replied.

"Ryou? What are you doing here?" Maria asked waking up fully as Ryou sat on the bed, "Shouldn't you be helping _Téa_ learn her lines?"

Ryou flinched at the sarcastic tone. "No, because there's someone else I'd rather spend my time with if she'll forgive me for not seeing Téa's true intentions. Please, I just got the scolding of a lifetime from Bakura. Forgive me," Ryou pleaded, his voice dropping to a whisper at the last sentence.

Maria's eyes softened and she snuggled up to Ryou, giving him a sincere hug. "All right, but only if you promise to not let Téa drag you away again."

"Deal," Ryou promised before running his fingers through Maria's hair, feeling her squirm in laughter.

Bakura pulled away from the door with a frown still on his face. One problem was eradicated, and the other still needed to be 'dealt with.' Fading to one of the secret passageways that even Ryou didn't know of, Bakura walked along it before coming to a two-way mirror. A quick glance told him that the room on the other side was empty.

Opening the mirror, Bakura looked around the lavish dressing room and almost gagged. It was all right when Maria was using it because she filled the room with happiness and determination. When Téa held dominion over the room, the room had an oppressive and superior feel to it. Looking around, Bakura spied his target and smirked humorlessly.

Picking up the wig, Bakura mentally thanked his grandfather for teaching him such tricks and faded away still holding onto the wig. A few minutes later, the wig was back in its place.

The next day at lunch, Maria and Ryou were sitting and eating peacefully when Téa came up. "Ryou," she gushed, "Will you help me practice my lines now?"

Ryou regarded her coolly, assuming Bakura's cool demeanor and felt Maria stiffen, afraid that he'd break his promise. "Sorry, I'm eating," he replied before taking another bite of his lunch.

"That's all right, we can eat while you help me," Téa replied offhandedly.

"No," Ryou replied firmly, lacing his fingers with Maria's, "I'm staying right here and not helping you anymore. I want to spend time with my girlfriend, not you."

Téa huffed and stormed off to get into her costume for the next act, since it was an informal dress rehearsal on the sole reason that the costumes had come in the day before.

Maria smiled at Ryou and hugging him, happily started to hum a little tune as she finished up her lunch.

During afternoon practice, Maria was confused to see Téa scratching her head often. Since the musical that they were doing required the lead person with long brown hair, Téa wore a wig to make her normally short hair long.

"Téa, what's going on?" Seto asked when Téa went into a particularly furious scratching.

"You might want to check the bitch for bugs," a sneering voice echoed through the auditorium. Ryou and Maria just looked at each other and sighed. Apparently Bakura sabotaged the wig.

Seto frowned and motioned for Téa to come over to him. Searching through her hair, Seto's frown deepened. "Téa, You have to go home. You have a serious case of lice. Go get it treated and don't come back till it's gone," he said, well aware that the whole cast was listening.

As Téa left the auditorium a cruel, yet pleased, laugh echoed through the huge room, making everyone's flesh crawl. "Is that the phantom?" Mau asked a little nervously and quietly.

"Yes Mau, it's only Bakura laughing like that," Ryou murmured, seeing Mau relax completely at that assurance.

Seto sighed in annoyance. "Maria, I'm sorry for dumping this on you, but could you…"

"Take Téa's place? Sure," Maria replied easily, "It's no trouble. I know her lines already from practicing with Ryou."

"Good. Well, what are you all staring at? We have a performance to get down!" Seto barked jokingly, watching the cast scramble back into place, Maria and Téa's understudy stepping into Maria's previous role.

…

That night, Maria and Ryou came onto the stage laughing. They had finally finished remodeling and cleaning the phantom room, so both were filthy and dusty.

"What the hell did I miss that's so funny?" Bakura asked, coming into the stage.

Maria and Ryou burst out laughing again. "We have a surprise for you Bakura! We want to show you it," Ryou explained as Maria produced a blindfold.

Bakura nodded and allowed the blindfold to be put on. Hearing Maria dash off, Bakura tipped his head to listen to her footsteps.

"If you're wondering, Maria went to go put a final touch on your surprise," Ryou explained taking Bakura's hand.

"Ryou, what are you doing? You're making me uneasy since I can't see."

"Relax. I'm just going to fade us there," Ryou replied as Bakura felt weightless and then solid.

"Count to ten once the blindfold is removed and then open your eyes," Maria instructed as the blindfold slid from Bakura's eyes. Bakura complied and counted to ten slowly.

Reaching ten, Bakura opened his eyes and gaped in awe. He was standing in the middle of the phantom room, and it looked totally different than when he last saw it.

Turning around, he looked at the two behind him with hopeful looks in their eyes. "It's nice, I love it," Bakura said with a smile.

Ryou and Maria grinned as Bakura gave them a hug. "You rascals," he muttered, "you two are so sneaky sometimes, it's not funny for half of them."

"I take that as a compliment," Maria replied.

"Where did you get the idea to do this?" Bakura asked, looking around the room before going to his mask wardrobe and looking at the clean and gleaming masks.

"Well, I found the chest with the original hangings inside. At the bottom was a layout/plan of the room, hangings included in the drawing," Maria explained.

"It was all Maria's idea," Ryou admitted.

"I still thank you both, for the amount of dirt on you indicates that you helped," Bakura pointed out, causing Maria and Ryou to just grin.

…

A few weeks later, it was the night before the musical. Maria woke in the night, hearing someone pacing restlessly above her. Going up to the stage, all she could see in the darkness was a faint splotch of white, fading in and out as the person paced.

"Hello?" she called out softly. The figure stopped and the white splotch turned towards her.

"What are you still doing up? You should be resting for tomorrow" came a low voice out of the darkness from the shape.

"Your pacing woke me up. What are you doing up here Bakura?" Maria asked in reply.

Bakura hopped off the stage and turned on the conductor's light in the pit, so they could see better. "I can't sleep, and the river and basements are too dangerous and noisy from squeaky floorboards respectively," he replied.

"Why can't you sleep?" Maria asked with a yawn as she sat on the stage.

"I'm worried about tomorrow. I'm sure Téa isn't happy about being cheated out of two musicals already, and she may try to do something."

"Well, I'm sure nothing will happen. If she does show, we can just distract her with Yami. He and Valon are both coming tomorrow," Maria replied nochantly.

Bakura sighed and leaned against the stage. "Perhaps. Just be on your guard though," he said before he faded away after turning off the pit light.

Maria thought about what Bakura said and realized that he had a point. Heading back down, Maria shuddered at the sight of the shadows cast by the soft lights that Ryou put at intervals down the hall so they could see if they had to get up. All of them looked incredibly ominous.

Not feeling up to getting creeped out further by the darkness of her room, she opened the door across the hall quietly and slipped in. Cuddling next to the sleeping figure of Ryou, Maria felt herself relax enough to fall back asleep as Ryou subconsciously held her closer.

Ryou sat in his dressing room the next night preparing to go out and perform. Tying his long hair back, Ryou wished he could go see Maria, but there wasn't time. He had woken up to find her snuggled to him, arms wrapped around his torso as if she were being tugged from him, and she didn't want to go.

'I hope Bakura is able to calm her down. Then again, both have been incredibly jumpy today. After the performance, I'll ask what was up,' Ryou thought, adjusting his clothes a final time before leaving to go into the stage wings.

Meanwhile, Maria was sitting in her own dressing room brushing her hair. Bakura had stopped by a few minutes ago to wish her luck and to also calm her down. Maria still felt amazingly levelheaded and calm after Bakura had done a meditative relaxing technique on her.

Maria's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. "Come in," she called.

The door opened and Téa entered. She was carrying a bottle and two opaque goblets.

"What can I help you with Téa?" Maria asked, trying to be civil.

"Oh, I just thought I'd stop by and we could have a toast to your success as means of burying the hatchet," Téa said sweetly.

Bakura's warnings rang through Maria's head, so she studied Téa's face carefully. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she agreed and Téa took a seat at the makeup table where Maria sat.

Accepting the goblet that Téa handed to her, Maria sniffed it, but couldn't recognize the scent. "What is this? I've never smelled anything like it before," she asked.

Téa laughed lightly. "It's a bottle of fruit wine that is specially imported for me. The wine is made by my Uncle in Italy. I always drink it before a performance, it helps the voice, gives it a nice ring," she said.

Maria looked at the wine again, Téa's words making her suspicious. "We're rivals. Why should I trust you? How do I know that you're not trying to make me lose my voice so you can get your role back?" Maria asked after a pause.

"How about this, I'll take a drink and show you it is all right," Téa said before raising the glass to her lips and taking a drink. What Maria didn't know, was that Téa never parted her lips to allow the liquid through, for the liquid had a powder that she had added to make the drinker lose their voice within a matter of minutes.

Pretending to swallow, Téa wiped her mouth and smiled. "Come now you silly goose, I took a drink so it must be all right since I didn't lose my voice, " she chirped.

Maria knew Téa had a point and downed the goblet. "It was good. I must get going now, but thanks for the drink," Maria said as she left, totally missing Téa's smirk.

Bakura sat restlessly in Valon's and Yami's box, eyes scanning the crowd, calculating.

"Bakura, what's wrong? You seem incredibly nervous," Yami asked from the other side of Valon. The two brothers had spotted Bakura going up to box five and had invited him to sit with them, even though Yami was still a little reluctant to be totally friendly.

Bakura looked at the two of them. "Something doesn't feel right," he murmured.

Valon and Yami looked at each other, but let it pass. "If Bakura thinks something is wrong, let him stew about it. He'll tell us if it's necessary," Yami whispered. Valon agreed and turned his attention to the stage, where the curtain had just risen.

Maria stood in the wings and watched Ryou humorously give a speech about the girl of his dreams to another character, the audience laughing quietly when the other person made an obscene comment. Hearing her cue, Maria strode onto the stage and linked arms with Ryou, glad she had to be silent for a little longer before she had to sing, her throat was hurting.

"Well, she's pretty enough, but she doesn't seem very talkative," Ryou's companion said.

"That may be, but she has a voice so beautiful and powerful, she may very well bring this building around your ears if you're not careful Roy," Ryou replied haughtily.

"Very well. Oh Miss Damsel with flowing brown hair, will you care to give me a little demonstration then?" Roy asked.

"I would be honored," Maria replied, and moving from Ryou, moved to center stage and began singing.

Ryou listened to the sweet voice that Maria was singing in, and picked up on a little hoarseness in the words. Eventually, it became very obvious that Maria was losing her voice.

Maria's eyes widened in horror when part-way through the song, she opened her mouth and nothing came out. Trying again, she became panicked when nothing still came out and the audience started laughing.

Meanwhile, in Valon's box, the three had leapt to their feet. "That's not supposed to happen!" Bakura exclaimed. Yami and Valon immediately rushed out to get to Maria out of this predicament. Bakura looked around and spotted the chandelier. Fading to the high walkway that few knew of, Bakura entered a little door and gave the mechanism a swift kick to jar the chandelier's rope a little loose and hacked at the rope with a knife that he pulled out of his pocket.

Below, Ryou heard a faint tinkling and looking up, saw the chandelier quivering. "Look out!" he yelled at the top of his lungs as the final threads snapped and the chandelier started to plummet, the air filling with screams instead of laughter as the chandelier crashed into the seats under it.

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I'm getting really slow. Please forgive me and tell me how it was. Now what's going to happen? You'll only find out next chapter.


	12. fire and icecold water, Trouble

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh. I do own Maria, otherwise known as Ria or Ri by her cousins. My good friend Sanura owns Schala, Mau, and Valon.

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Below, Ryou heard a faint tinkling and looking up, saw the chandelier quivering. "Look out!" he yelled at the top of his lungs as the final threads snapped from the weight and the chandelier started to plummet, the air filling with screams instead of laughter as the chandelier crashed into the seats under it.

When the chandelier crashed, glass, crystal, and metal flew everywhere. Ryou shielded his face with his arms and hissed when a sharp piece of glass sliced his arm near the shoulder. Hearing a faint cry, Ryou ignored his pain and looking up, saw Maria kneeling down, shielding herself as best as possible.

"Maria!" he shouted over the screams and started to fight his way over. Unfortunately, the stage was in pandemonium, people running everywhere in a panic. Finally reaching her, Ryou kneeled next to her and tried to help her up. Maria shook her head and pantomimed to Ryou that she couldn't stand.

"Are you hurt?" Ryou asked, amazingly calm. Maria nodded and motioned to her left leg. Ryou looked, and saw the leg near the ankle was cut open and bleeding. Ryou got to one knee and scooped Maria up. As he started to stand, a jolt of pain shot through his arm, causing him to drop Maria. Maria recovered and held onto Ryou in order not to be separated from him as the panic grew worse when the chandelier started sparking.

"Ryou!" came a shout. Ryou turned and spotted Yami, Valon, and Bakura pushing their way through the crowd. Ryou started to rise but Bakura pushed towards them faster, seeing something behind Ryou. "Ryou! Get down!" he shouted.

Bakura and Valon reached Ryou and Maria and picking them up, leapt back just as the electric in the chandelier exploded in a shower of sparks and flame. Maria cringed and wrapped her arms around Valon's neck as a flame came dangerously close, engulfing the spot where they just were.

"Let's get out of here," Yami choked on the smoke.

Maria shifted restlessly. "Mau," she said in a very faint whisper.

"I'll go. You two get Maria and Ryou out of here," Yami said and before Valon could protest, dashed off.

"Come on Valon! Yami can take care of himself as much as I hate to say it! We have to get these two, especially Maria, to safety," Bakura growled, turning when he noticed that Valon hadn't been with him.

Valon turned and hesitated, glancing back the way Yami had disappeared into the smoke, and then followed Bakura, running and being careful not to jar Maria. They got outside after a few minutes of fighting through the panicked crowds and smoke-filled halls and ran to the nearby park, where the air was fresh and a gentle breeze was blowing.

"Okay, I can't run any farther," Bakura panted and set Ryou on a bench, Valon following suit with Maria. Ryou immediately grabbed his arm in pain and clenched his teeth. "Ryou? What's wrong?" Valon asked, catching his breath faster than Bakura.

"My arm," Ryou replied, "I felt glass cut it."

Maria scooted over and grabbing the sleeve of Ryou's costume, ripped the sleeve off at the seams. Pointing, Maria showed Valon the cut.

"Oh hell, there's glass still inside," Bakura groaned, "Come Valon, let's bring these two over to the fountain and clean them up."

Soon, both Maria and Ryou were sitting on the edge of the fountain, being bandaged by their two older relatives. Bakura was busy working on getting the chunk of glass out of Ryou's arm, his eyes better adapted to the darkness for doing fine details. "There," he sighed when he worked the chunk of glass out and let it fall to the ground. Washing Ryou's arm in the clear water, Bakura tightly bandaged it up with the torn off sleeve and put the arm in a sling fashioned out of a wide strip of material taken from the very bottom of Maria's dress.

Ryou nodded his thanks and stood, going to Maria. Valon had washed the cut, but couldn't find anything to bandage Maria's foot and ankle with. Ryou tapped on Maria's shoulder and pointed to his other sleeve. Maria looked, nodded, and ripped the other sleeve off, handing it then to Valon.

"Now we have to find a way to clear Maria's voice up," Valon said, wiping his forehead once he finished.

Maria thought for a second and then leaning over, put her lips to the drinkable water and started drinking. Feeling Ryou help her sit back up, she wiped her mouth and tried her voice.

"Is everyone okay?" she asked in a raspy voice.

Bakura nodded. "We're fine, just some smoke inhalation," he replied.

Valon shook his head. "We should start home. It's a fair distance away. We have to get far enough away from the fire, and then we can take a cab the rest of the way," he said.

"Can Bakura and Ryou stay at your home too?" Maria asked. Valon nodded, and Bakura picked her up.

"Valon, rest your arms. I'll carry Maria halfway, and then you can do the rest," Bakura offered, just now noticing a cut on Maria's cheek that looked to start bleeding any second. Valon nodded, and the three started walking.

Finally, about a half-hour later, the cab they were in pulled through the gates of Valon's estate. "We're here," Valon announced softly, shaking Maria and Ryou awake.

Ryou opened his eyes and yawned. "How long were we asleep?" he asked as the cab pulled up to the door, and the four piled out, Maria with Valon's help.

"About fifteen minutes," Bakura replied as they followed Valon up the wide steps. Valon was about to put Maria down and knock on the door, when it opened, and Yami stood there, silhouetted in the door. As soon as he saw all four were there, Yami visibly relaxed and some of the worry left his face.

"You're all alright," he said, coming out and relieving Valon of Maria, seeing as both him and Bakura looked tired. "Come on, come inside," he said, turning and bringing Maria inside.

"Maria! Are you okay?" Mau asked, rushing over as Yami entered the living room and set Maria down on the couch.

"I'm okay," Maria replied hoarsely, "I just kinda tripped and fell down the stairs."

"Liar, and that's not funny," Mau pointed out with a smile regardless.

"Seriously though, a piece of the chandelier got me near my ankle and my cheek, and I'm suffering smoke inhalation, but other than that, I'm fine," Maria admitted as Valon, Bakura, and Ryou entered, "And Ryou got a deep slice on the arm."

Yami looked at Ryou's blood-soaked bandage. "Deep is right," he said as Valon left and reentered a few minutes later with a steaming bowl of water, and a big first aid kit.

"Yami took first-aid classes, so he's good at this stuff," Valon explained as he flopped on the couch as Yami took care of Maria first.

"How did you guys get out of the fire?" Ryou asked Mau.

"Well, Yami found me, and we took the actor entrance that literally no one thought to use. Yami found his car, and we just drove here," Mau replied, going to Ryou and grabbing a washcloth that Valon tossed to her, untied Ryou's bandage and put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding.

Bakura yawned. "All I want is a shower and a nice long sleep," he said, stretching out on another couch.

"There's a bathroom upstairs, the last door on the right. You can sleep in the room across the hall from it," Yami said as he finished bandaging Maria's foot and looked at her cheek after washing it, "Ri, I need to stitch your cheek up."

"But Yami," Maria complained, her voice still rasping as Bakura headed upstairs, "you know I hate needles."

Yami just gave her an unimpressed look and Maria sighed. "Maria, why don't you close your eyes?" Ryou asked. Maria still looked scared, so Ryou and Mau got up and moved to the sofa. Ryou guided Maria to lay down, her head in his lap, and pushed her eyes gently closed. Yami got started on stitching the cut shut.

"You should be a doctor Yami," Mau laughed as Yami finished and covered the cut with a bandage as Maria opened her eyes.

"He's studying to be either a doctor or a surgeon," Valon answered as he stood and stretched. "I'm going to take a shower, and then I'm going to bed. Yami, care to show them to rooms after?"

Yami nodded as he stitched Ryou's cut closed. "Come on you two," he said once he finished, "Maria, you know which room is yours normally and Mau can stay with you. Ryou, Valon gave Bakura the room across from the bathroom. Do you want…"

"I'll stay with him, Bakura is going to feel out of place sleeping in a different house without being 100 sure of where I am," Ryou interrupted.

Yami nodded in understanding and showed Ryou up to the room after giving him pajamas to borrow. Ryou entered and saw Bakura toweling his hair dry, his mask lying on the bed next to him. Remembering what Bakura's face looked like last time he saw Bakura without his mask, Ryou sighed and steeling his will, walked over to the bed and picked up the mask.

Bakura immediately turned to his left and relaxed when he saw it was only Ryou. "You don't have to clean it, I'll do it," he said softly.

Ryou shook his head and crossing the hall, found rubbing alcohol and tissues. "No, you just relax, I'll do it," Ryou replied, starting to clean the white mask, tinted gray from smoke. Bakura watched Ryou clean the mask thoroughly and then accepted it as it was handed back to him spotless and gleaming.

Bakura looked at the mask and turned it over in his hand a few times. "Ryou," he said with a sigh, "Are you sure you want to share a room?"

Ryou looked up from where he was buttoning his pajama shirt. "I know how you are when you don't know where I am," he replied.

"You realize…that I do sleep without my mask on, right?"

Ryou blinked and smiling, put a hand under Bakura's chin, raised his brother's head up. "You're my brother," Ryou said, staring into Bakura's eyes and putting a hand on the deformed half of Bakura's face and running a thumb over it, "I don't care anymore what you look like, I'm not a little kid, I can take it"

Bakura stared at Ryou and then smiled. "Come on, let's get some sleep," he yawned, laying down and cuddling Ryou close after he put his mask on the bedside table. "You still smell like smoke," Bakura told Ryou.

Ryou laughed. "I'm taking my shower tomorrow, I'm too tired," he replied. Bakura smiled and kissing Ryou on top of his head, drifted off to sleep, his little brother falling asleep not long after.

…

The next morning, Ryou woke up and slid out of Bakura's arms. Stretching, Ryou headed to take his shower. Stepping out of the shower about fifteen minutes later, Ryou dried his body off and cocked his head when he saw clothes laid on the sink with a piece of paper on them. Picking up the note, Ryou read it and smiled at Maria's choice phrasing. "For me huh?" he murmured, dressing quickly and going back into his and Bakura's room. Sitting on the bed, Ryou started combing his hair as Bakura finished securing his mask.

"Morning Ryou," Bakura said as he turned to the dresser and grabbing a brush, started brushing his bangs and the hair that fell in front of his shoulders.

"Good Morning," Ryou replied with a smile, "hungry?"

"Sure am, come on Ryou. Let's go see what rich people eat," Bakura replied, tousling his brother's hair.

Ryou smirked and giving his hair a shake, causing it to spring up into its layers, headed for the door. "Whatever it is," Ryou said, looking Bakura straight in the eyes, "It must be better than your cooking."

Bakura's eyes widened in disbelief. "You imp!" he shouted, causing Ryou to giggle and run out of the room. Bakura chased Ryou all the way into the kitchen, where he skidded to a stop when he saw Maria and Mau staring at him, Mau trying not to laugh, and Maria shaking her head.

"Good morning," Maria calmly said after she finished shaking her head, "There's breakfast on the counter."

Ryou came up behind Maria and tipping her head up, captured her lips in a quick kiss before going over to the counter. "Holy, this is quite a spread," he commented.

"The servants always make more than enough. Yami tends to eat a lot before he goes to his classes," Maria explained.

Ryou and Bakura helped themselves to breakfast and then joined the girls at the table. "How's your voice?" Bakura asked.

Maria shrugged. "It's all right," she replied, "I just needed to drink enough to loosen my throat back up."

"What happened anyway?" Ryou asked.

Maria scowled darkly. "That prick Téa, that's what. She gave me a drink that had something in it to make me lose my voice. I was fool enough to believe that it was safe because she took a drink of it," Maria spat.

Bakura frowned, his eyes darkening as he put down his fork. "What would that have gotten her? She knows none of the blocking, only the script and minor movements," he growled lightly.

"I think that it showed that Maria wasn't the perfect creature that Seto relies on and believed that she was," Mau suggested.

Bakura silently continued eating, mulling thoughts in his mind. "We need to go back to the theater," he stated a few minutes later.

"What? Bakura, we couldn't get back in there, there'd be too many workers and police around for us to not be seen!" Ryou protested.

"And you're doubting that I could get us in?" Bakura demanded.

"Please boys, no fighting," Maria sighed, "I agree with Bakura, Ryou, we need to return to the theater. However, I don't wish to go until I can move a little faster than a hobble."

Ryou sighed and looked over at Maria, totally missing the face Bakura made at him. "All right, you win," he sighed again.

"What about you, Mau?" Maria asked after another few minutes, "Are you going back to your house, or are you going to live somewhere else?"

Mau started. "How would I be able to escape my father?" she wondered after a minute.

"We could get Seto to tell him you perished in the blaze," Valon said, entering the kitchen and leaning against the counter. "I was just on the phone with him since me and Yami are patrons. We don't know for sure yet, but the casualties number around twenty dead and many hurt. You could 'become' one of them," he explained when the four turned to look at him in surprise.

"That could work, since when Yami found me, there were flames nearby. But then I'd have no place to stay."

"You could stay here, or with me and Ryou and Bakura under the theater," Maria offered, seeing Valon nod. Mau nodded and promised to give it some thought, since the four would be staying there until everyone recovered. Valon joined them at the table for breakfast and everyone resumed eating until a little later when Ryou snorted in laughter suddenly.

"What's your problem?" Bakura asked warily.

Ryou laughed and looked around at the others. "It's not that funny, but I just remembered. Last night, my last lines before that fiasco were: 'That may be, but she has a voice so beautiful and powerful, she may very well bring this building around your ears if you're not careful Roy.' That's exactly what happened. Maria sang and the chandelier collapsed," Ryou explained.

Maria and Bakura caught the irony at the same time and started laughing. Mau understood a second later, while Valon had to think about it for another few seconds before he chuckled as well.

"Who knew that my brother was prophetic?" Bakura gasped, trying to calm down and then ruffled Ryou's hair.

"So…how did the chandelier collapse?" Maria asked once everyone stopped laughing.

Bakura bowed his head and looked down. "I…I cut the rope. I was so concerned about you, I went to where the chandelier mechanism was and cut the rope. I wasn't thinking about what would happen. All I thought about was the quickest way to make the audience stop laughing," he admitted, voice dropping to a whisper.

Valon blinked in shock. Thinking quickly, an idea came to mind, seeing as Bakura would go into a deep guilt and depression swing in a matter of minutes. "No you didn't," he stated.

Bakura's head shot up. "What are you talking about? I did too cut the rope," he demanded.

Valon sighed. "Bakura, you don't have access to up there. The rope frayed after God knows how many years of strain and it just happened to snap coincidentally," Valon explained slowly with a wink at the end.

Bakura, Ryou, Mau, and Maria exchanged looks. "So you want us to forget that Bakura went up there and pretend it was a chance happening?" Maria asked after a pause.

"Exactly. Of course, Bakura can keep going around admitting to the accident and wind up spending his life in prison if he so chooses."

"I'll take the chance happening," Bakura gulped.

Valon nodded in satisfaction and the five resumed eating.

…

Some time later, Valon arrived at the theater and winced at seeing the blackened stone. After making his way through the police guarding the entrance, he sought out Seto, who was standing in the auditorium, watching the workers start to remove the chandelier. "So how much are the repairs going to cost?" he asked.

Seto closed his eyes and sighed. "To get everything looking as it did, and to get all of the smoke remnants out, I'm figuring a couple million," Seto replied, "Are Maria and Ryou okay?"

"They're fine," Valon assured, "However, Maria got a deep cut on her left ankle and cheek, and Ryou has a deep slice on his upper arm."

"I think I know what caused this," Seto stated, "I saw Téa before the disaster with the chandelier, and she had a very smug look on her face. My guess is that she messed with Maria's voice to get even for the musicals that she has been cheated out of."

Valon frowned as well. "Téa is becoming too much of a liability. Seto, I think it's time for her to go."

Seto nodded in agreement and motioned for Valon to follow him to his office so they could go over the figures for repairs. After Valon left, saying that he should return to Maria, Seto accompanied the police up to the chandelier mechanism.

"Mr. Kaiba, I'm sure you're aware that if we don't find anything suspicious, you'll be responsible for any lawsuits that probably will be filed," the chief stated.

"I'm aware," Seto stated, motioning to the door, "The mechanism is through here."

The police entered and started investigating the end of the rope where Bakura had hacked away, trying to determine if the rope had been cut or just frayed. Seto stood back and watched, suddenly noticing a small scrap of material stuck in the gears. Waiting until after the police finished their investigation and headed back down, Seto knelt and tried to pry the material out.

Not making any progress, Seto sat back on his heels and thought. "When the rope broke, there must have been a recoil. So if I move the mechanism, the material should fall out," he mused. Pushing against the mechanism in the direction the mechanism would turn if the chandelier would be lowered, Seto was satisfied when the material came free.

Picking it up, Seto noticed that it was in fact a decent sized fragment. One side was silk, and the other side was a medium-weight cotton. Becoming suspicious, Seto stood and looked down. Noticing that the gears were about ankle length, Seto determined that the article of clothing must have been something loose like a cape, and only one person he knew wore a cape. The material was clenched in Seto's fist as he growled out one word. "Bakura."

At about the same time, Bakura was in his and Ryou's shared room, going through his phantom garb due to remembering getting stuck on the mechanism for a moment. Spreading out his cape, Bakura's face paled to the white of his mask when he noticed the large chunk missing from the corner of his cape. "This is not good," he groaned.

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I'm getting really slow. Please forgive me and tell me how it was. Now what's going to happen? You'll only find out next chapter.


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